It Had To Be You
by toledo girl
Summary: Margaret and Hawkeye are sent to another unit but end up getting stuck together during a crisis. HM included.
1. Chapter 1

1 Just Another Day

Margaret was standing by the jeep with her luggage already put in the jeep.

"Come on Pierce! We're gonna be late!" she yelled impatiently.

Hawkeye came walking out of his tent.

"What's the big rush?" he asked as he put his things in the jeep.

"We happen to be representing the 4077th. If we're late we give the whole unit a bad name," she said sternly.

"Margaret we're here because of our ability to operate and have people survive, not because we're always on time for everything," Hawkeye said.

"Get in the jeep and drive," she said.

"Alright," he said in defeat and got in.

Hawkeye started driving.

"What's the matter with you this morning?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked sourly.

"You just seem irratable today. And more then usual," he said.

They suddenly heard something behind them.

"What was that?" Hawkeye asked.

"I don't know. Just keep driving," Margaret said.

Suddenly a bullet was shot. Margaret shrieked as the tired was blown out. Hawkeye stopped the jeep and grabbed Margaret. The two ran over to the bush and hid as well as they could. The two watched as two North Koreans approched the jeep and started looking through they're things. Hawkeye jumped as he felt something hit the back of his head.

"Watch it Margaret," he hissed.

"I didn't do anything," she argued.

"Then what hit me?" he asked.

Hawkeye's eyes widened as he turned around.


	2. Stuck Together

2 Stuck Together

Standing behind him was a North Korean that was holding a gun to his head.

"Margaret," he said nervously while tapping her shoulder.

"What is it Pierce?" she hissed.

"I'd turn around if I were you," he said.

She turned around and froze as she saw him standing there. The man said something in Korean and the two stood up with their hands up. The others came and joined. The group walked down the road until they got to an old hut. The man stopped at the doorway and forced the two in. Hawkeye went and sat down against the wall. The man shoved Margaret down and then went to join the group. The men stood there talking.

"I wish I knew what they were saying," Hawkeye said to himself.

Hawkeye looked over to Margaret. He saw a tear go down her cheek as she nervously watched the group. He reached over and wiped the tear off her face. Margaret only looked at him. He looked at her and tried to read her expression, but her face was as blank as can be, yet he could see it in her eyes that she was terrified. As she looked into his ice blue yes she could see that he was truly concerned.

"You're scared aren't you?" he asked.

"No," she said.

"It's okay if you are," he said.

"No, I'm fine," she said and turned away.

"You want to tell me what upset you today?" he asked.

"Today I got a letter from my happily married friend Emily. Last week she had a baby. She took that baby home to her house and she is raising that child with her faithful husband," Margaret said.

"Your friend's happiness bothered you?" he asked.

"No, it's just that that letter made me realize how far behind in life I really am. By now I wanted a husband who loved me and a baby," she said.

"And when I finally did get a husband he didn't care about me," Margaret said.

"You know you still have plenty of time to do that," he said.

Margaret was about to say something but decided against it.

"Maybe," she said taking her attention back to the three men.


	3. Saving Margaret

3 Saving Margaret

Coloniel Potter was on the phone in his office.

"What in blazers do you mean they never showed up?" he asked.

"They left over an hour ago," he said.

"Alright," he said and hung up.

Potter sighed as he sat down at his desk.

"Radar!" he called out.

Radar came in.

"I've alerted HQ about Pierce and Houlihan sir," he said.

"Dismissed," Potter said.

It was now dark out and Hawkeye and Margaret were sitting over in the hut. Two of the men had left and the one was still there watching the two. The man looked over smugly and went over towards Margaret. He grabbed Margaret by the arm and pulled her up.

"Oh God," Margaret said.

The man shoved Margaret against the wall and started to take her coat off. Margaret stood there nervously as she watched the man. Hawkeye slowly got up and came from behind the man. Hawkeye grabbed the man by the shoulders and shoved him out of the way and stood infront of Margaret guarding her. The man shoved Hawkeye out of the way and took Margaret and started to lead her to the other side of the room. Hawkeye took a broom stick and crawled over and stuck it out and tripped the man. Both him and Margaret fell down. The man landed on his head was unconsious. Margaret was beside him. Hawkeye went over to help her sit up. She was now crying.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I don't know," she said.

He helped her to her feet.

"While we have the chance," he said.

The two went over to the doorway a looked out. As soon as they knew it was clear they both ran for near by trees. As soon as they knew it was safe they walked off into the darkness. They walked for about an hour and then decided to take a rest.

"How are you doing?" Hawkeye asked.

"I'm fine," she said examining her arm.

"Did you hurt your arm?" he asked.

"I landed on it," she said.

"Roll up your sleeve," he said.

Margaret carefully rolled up her sleeve. She put her arm out.

"Jeeze," Hawkeye said.

Her arm was red and puffy.

"I'm pretty sure that's a broken arm," he said.

"Here," he said as he took his coat off.

Hawkeye took his coat and ripped off a strip of material from the bottom.

"Give me your arm," he said.

Margaret held out her arm. Hawkeye took the cloth and started wrapping it around her arm.

"You have a clip or something?" he asked.

Margaret took out one of her hair clips and handed it to him. Hawkeye used it to get the cloth to stay on.

"Thankyou," she said.

"For fixing the arm I broke?" he asked.

"No, for not letting him take advantage of me," she said.

"Just glad you're alright," he said.

The two looked into each other's eyes and kissed. There was a noise in the bushes and the two froze and then slowly looked over towards the bushes.


	4. As Luck Would Have It

4 As Luck Would Have It

Hawkeye broke his stare and grabbed Margaret by the arm and stood up.

"Come on," he said.

The two started running in the other direction. Soon enough they heard a bullet go off and Hawkeye fell to the ground. Margaret stopped and turned around.

"Keep going!" Hawkeye yelled.

Margaret went and hid back into the woods until she heard the shooting stop and then waited a few minutes. She slowly stepped out and looked over at Hawkeye who was still on the ground. Margaret went over to him and knelt down.

"You okay?" she asked.

"They got me in the leg," he said.

Margaret went over and looked at his leg.

"You'll live, but you're gonna have a hard time getting back," she said.

Margaret stood up and put Hawkeye's arm around her shoulder's.

"Watch your arm," he said.

"It's fine," she said.

Margaret helped Hawkeye walk as he limped. The two made it to a road and sat back down.

"Thanks," he said.

"Hey, you got me away from the pervert back there," she said.

There was silence.

"Do you know where we are?" she asked.

"Asia," he said.

There was a silence.

"Maybe if we wait long enough we can hitch a ride," she said.

"Until then I guess we can get some sleep," he said.

"But what if some one who could get us back comes by and we're both alseep?" she asked.

"Well, then we can take turns. You sleep for a while and then I'll sleep for a while," he said.

"I guess," she said.

"I'll let you go first," he said.


	5. Back Again

5 Back Again

Coloniel Potter was sitting in his office on the phone.

"They still haven't found them?" he asked.

"Alright," he said then hung up and sighed.

"Where could they be?" he asked himself.

Radar came into his office and stood before the desk.

"They still haven't found them yet?" he asked.

"No," Potter said and Radar started to leave.

"But Radar," Potter said causing Radar to pause.

"Just keep this between us. Okay?" Potter asked.

"Alright sir," Radar said and then left

Hawkeye and Margaret were both asleep. Hawkeye woke up as he felt something jab him in the shoulder. He looked over and the same man that had tried to get to Margaret. He sat there nervously as he looked at the gun and then Margaret. Hawkeye struggled to get to his feet but finally did and put both hands up.

"This time just take me," Hawkeye said.

Margaret woke up. The man pointed to gun to Margaret.

"No. Just take me," Hawkeye said.

"Leave her and take me," Hawkeye said.

The man said something in Korean and pointed the gun back at Margaret. Margaret nervously stood up and put her hands up. The man directed them to a jeep that he had stolen. Once they were both in he started driving. They drove until they got a small cement building that seemed to have been abandond. The two stayed silent as the jeep pulled up to the building. The man stopped the jeep and got out and motioned for them to get out. Margaret got out and then helped Hawkeye get out. They both slowly went inside as the man held the gun to their backs. The man shoved them both down in a room together. He locked the door and left. Hawkeye looked over at Margaret who was fussing with her arm.

"Did he hurt it?" he asked.

"It's fine," she said.

Hawkeye looked over at the curtin hanging on the window he crawled over and pulled it down. He took it over to Margaret and placed her arm in it and tied it around her neck so it would work as a sling. Margaret looked down at it.

"Thankyou," she said.

"How's your leg?" she asked.

Hawkeye looked at it.

"Sore," he said.

The two sat there for a minute in complete silence until the man came back in and smiled smuly at Margaret. He came over and grabbed her chin as said something. She struggled out of his hold. He laughed and then walked back out.

"He doesn't give up does he?" Hawkeye asked.

"I'm scared," she said while keeping her eye on the door.

"I know," he said sighing.

"So am I," he said.


	6. What We Must Face

6 What We Must Face

The room fell dark as night began to fall. Hawkeye sat against the wall with Margaret in his arms. The two perked their heads up as soon as they heard the door start to open. This time it was another man, one that they haven't seen before. He smirked as he walked towards them.

"He's a new one," Hawkeye whispered.

He looked at Margaret and took her hand and gently helped her up. She looked nervously back at Hawkeye. He tried to stand up but when he started to the man harshly pushed him against the wall causing him to hit his head and pass out. Margaret stared back at Hawkeye who was now just lying there. The man came up and put his arm around her and led her out of the room.

It was about a half hour later. Hawkeye opened his eyes and tried to sit up. He was dizzy and had a bad headache. Rubbing the back of his head he tried to remember what happened. His memory was jarred as soon as he heard Margaret yelling.

"Oh God," he muttered.

The door opened and Margaret spit in the guy's face as he shoved her in the room. Her clothes were torn and dirty and she had a black eye. As soon as the man left she fell to the ground and broke down crying. Hawkeye struggled to his feet and headed over to her. He sat down behind her.

"He took me out and laid me down on the table and when I fought back he punched me in the eye," she said.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"I'm sorry that I didn't stop him," Hawkeye said.

Margaret turned around as she wiped off her eyes.

"You were unconsious. There wasn't anything you could do," she said.

He just stared in a daze. Hawkeye took her in his arms and sighed.

Back at the 4077th Radar was sitting in the mess tent eating dinner. B.J. and Klinger came over and joined him with their food and sat down.

"Hey, you don't look so good," Klinger said.

"Yeah, what's wrong Radar?" B.J. asked.

"Nothing," Radar said.

"Oh come on," B.J. said.

"I'm just tired. I had a long day today," Radar said.

"Well if it cheers you up, Hawkeye and Margaret are due back tomorrow," Klinger said.

Radar just stared.

"Yeah," he said.

"Is something wrong?" B.J. asked.

Radar looked up.

"Well," he said sighing.

"I guess you were gonna find out about it tomorrow," he said and then leaned in.

"Can you two keep a secret?" he asked.

"Sure," B.J. said and then they both looked over at Klinger.

"What? I can keep a secret," he said.

"Maybe we better leave you out of this," B.J. suggested.

"Oh come on guys," Klinger said.

"I can keep a secret," he said.

B.J. and Radar sighed.

"Can we step outside?" Radar asked.

"How big a secret is it?" B.J. asked.

"Coloniel Potter told me not to tell," Radar said.

"Maybe we'd better just wait until tomorrow," B.J. suggested.

"Just come with me," Radar said.

Radar led B.J. and Klinger into Coloniel Potter's office.

"Stay out here," Radar said and then went into his office.

"Coloniel Potter sir," Radar said.

"Come in Radar," Potter said.

"I was wondering if you knew anything about Pierce and Houlihan yet sir," Radar said.

"No," Potter said.

"Then do you think that I should tell Hunnicutt and Klinger?" Radar asked.

"Well, they were probaly gonna find out tomorrow when they don't show up," Potter said.

"Okay, I'll go tell them," Radar said.

"Better yet, bring them in. I'll tell them," Potter said.

Radar went and opened the door and both B.J. and Klinger came in and stood before his desk. Potter just sighed.

"I think you two should know. When Pierce and Houlihan left to go to the 8063rd they got lost. They never showed up and the MPs found their jeep with all the luggage already gone through," Potter said.

The room fell silent as everyone just exchanged looks.

Hawkeye and Margaret were back against the wall.

"Do you think that we'll ever get out of here?" Margaret asked.

"Don't think like that," Hawkeye warned.

"But we don't know where we are, in the middle of a room that is being guarded by North Koreans," she said.

"When they figure out that we're missing they'll come looking for us," Hawkeye said trying to keep Margaret calm.

"Even if they do, do you really believe that they'd be able to find us and get us out of here?" she asked.

"I'd like to think that," he said.

Margaret just sighed.

"So would I," Margaret said.


	7. Facing The Truth

7 Facing The Truth

Hawkeye sat in the room as the sun started to show through the room. He watched Margaret as she slept next to him. He was still feeling guilty for what Margaret had gone through. Margaret woke up.

"Hi," she said still half asleep.

"Hey," he said sounding distracted.

"If you're tired you an go ahead and get some sleep," she said.

"No, I'm fine," he said sourly.

Margaret just sighed as she looked away.

"You know, the least you can do is stop blaming yourself," she said.

"Why does it matter to you?" he asked.

"Why does it matter to me!?" she asked getting offended.

"You saved me the first time around and then tell me to go save myself when you got shot! And don't think I didn't hear you when you offered to go alone so that he'd leave me! That meant alot to me. But you can't always keep me from getting hurt and you most certainly can't always play hero," she said.

A look of offense came across Hawkeye's face when she accused him of playing hero.

"Playing hero huh?" he asked.

"That's what you thought it was, that once we got back to camp I was gonna gloat about how I kept some one from taking advantage of you and then dance around in all my glory," he said.

"You know that's not what I meant," she said sternly.

"Maybe, but it's exactly what you said," he said.

"That's not fair," she said.

"What happened to you yesterday wasn't fair, but I couldn't do a damn thing about it, and because I'm mad about that you tell me that I was trying to play hero," he said.

"You can't keep beating yourself up over that," she said.

"How would you feel if the person you cared about was being tortured and you had a chance to prevent it and you failed?" he asked.

Margaret just sighed in defeat.

Back at the 4077th Coloniel Potter was having a staff meeting. He had gethered everyone into is office and had gotten them to sit down.

"Don't you think that we should wait for Pierce and Houlihan for this, important, staff meeting that couldn't wait?" Charles asked.

Potter sighed.

"This meeting was called because we have a big problem that needs to be solved right away," Potter said.

"And Peirce and Houlihan couldn't help?" Charles asked.

"That what I was about to say. Pierce and Houlihan never showed up at the 8063rd. The MP's have been looking for them. They found their jeep and their belongings had already been gone through and the tire was blown out," Potter said.

"You don't think?" Father Mulcahy started.

"I hope not, but the odds don't look good," Potter said.

Potter sadly sighed.

"And that's why we need to look for both a replacement nurse and a replacement surgeon," Potter said.

There was an uneasy feeling through out the room that seemed to make everyone feel uncomfortable.

"I only marked it down as temporary," Radar said trying to lighten the mood.

"How long have they been searching?" Mulcahy asked.

"Since about three hours after they didn't show up at the 8063rd," Potter said.

"They can't just replace them," B.J. said.

Everyone in the room turned towards B.J.

"They don't even know where they are," B.J. said.

Margaret was sitting off by herself crying while Hawkeye was on the other side of the room. He looked over and watched her.

"Look, I'm sorry," he said.

"You made it sound like I didn't care anything about what you did," she said.

"I think there's a little bit more to it then that," he said.

"What do you think? Have you noticed where we are?" she asked.

"Come here," he said.

She looked over at him and stared.

"Fine," he sad, "I'll come over there."

Hawkeye started to struggle to his feet. Margaret stood up.

"No, it's fine, I'll come over there," she said in defeat.

Margaret got up and started towards him but froze midway and fell to her knees. Hawkeye crawled over to her. Margaret was holding her head.

"I'm fine," she said.

"I'm just a little dizzy from not eating anything," she said.

"I know," he said.

"You know what stinks?" she asked.

"Everything?" he asked.

"No, the fact that we're stuck here and they can do anything that they want to us," she said and then looked into Hawkeye's eyes with defeat.

"And there is not a damn thing that any of us can do about it," she said.

Hawkeye just sat there and stared into her eyes.

"I know," he said.

The two sat in the darkness.


	8. There's Always Something

8 There's Always Something

Hawkeye sat as he stroked Margaret's hair trying to get her to get some sleep. He just sat there thinking to himself.

"Margaret?" he asked.

"What is it?" she asked.

"In case we don't get out of here, there is one thing that I want you to know," he said.

"What is it?" she asked.

Before he could answer two men walked in and stood before them. Hawkeye slowly crawled infront of Margaret. The one man grabbed Hawkeye and the other took Margaret outside. Once he got Margaret was taken outside the man grabbed a rope and started to choke her. Margaret took the arm that wasn't broken and tried to push back his arm. She finally bit his arm. He yelped as he dropped the rope. Margaret stood there gasping for air. The man went over and smacked her across the face. Margaret tasted blood in her mouth. He went back over to her with the rope and choked her while he kept his arms away from her mouth. Back in the room the man was holding Hawkeye. Hawkeye nervously sat there while the man had a gun to him. He looked at the gun and then looked over at the door.

"Whoops?" he said nervously while slapping the gun out of his hand.

Hawkeye went as quickly as he could towards where the gun had landed. The man yelled something in Korean and went to the gun. Hawkeye was about to grab it when the man grabbed his wrist. Hawkeye punched the man which sent him to the floor. He watced the man for a moment and then picked up the gun. He didn't really like the idea of using a gun.

"Just use it to scare them," he said to himself.

The man started to sit up but Hawkeye nervously held the got up and shot it at the ceiling. The man stared at him with disbelief. Hawkeye then walked out of the room to see Margaret getting choked. He aimed the gun towards the wall so it wouldn't hit any of them. The man froze and Hawkeye limped over to him and took the rope away from Margaret. The man took out his gun and held it up to Hawkeye. The two stood there holding guns to each other.

Back at the 4077th a jeep pulled up with the new nurse and the new surgeon. The two stepped out and grabbed their bags.

"Excuse me," the young woman said stopping Radar.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Could you tell me where the CO is? We're the fill in's you requested," she said.

"Oh, this way," he said leading the two to Coloniel Potter's office.

The crowd walke into his office and Radar left.

"Well hello," he said as cheerfully as he could.

"Hello, I am Ken Baker," the man said.

"And I am Abby Tate," she said.

"Pleased to meet you. I am Coloniel Potter," he said.

"We were expecting you," Potter said.

"Well, where do we bunk at?" Abby asked.

The only open space for them really was Hawkeye's cot in the swamp and Margaret's cot in her tent. But he felt guilty putting them there.

"Baker, you can go stay in the Swamp. And Tate, you can either go stay in one of the nurses tents or you can go stay in the VIP tent," he said.

The two grabbed their bags and Radar showed them to where they were supposed to stay. Ken walked into the Swamp to see Charles and B.J. sitting there silently.

"This really is a Swamp," Ken said.

"Yeah, I guess that's why they called it that," B.J. said.

"I'm Ken, I was sent here to replace a surgeon," he said.

"So I've heard," Charles said.

"Look, I don't know what I did to upset you," Ken said.

B.J. sighed.

"I'm sorry, it's not you," B.J. said.

"Then what is it?" Ken asked.

"He was friends with the surgeon that you're replacing," Charles said.

"He knows that I'm only here temporarily, doesn't he? The other one will be back in a few days," Ken said.

Abby walked into the VIP tent and sat down on the cot and sighed as she looked around

"I hope that I don't need to be here much longer," she said.

Hawkeye and the man were holding the guns to each other. Hawkeye didn't want to even aim the gun at some one let alone shoot. He knew that the man was very serious and could easily pull that trigger. Hawkeye closed his eyes as he pulled the trigger. He got the man's right shoulder. The man dropped the gun.

"I don't believe it," Hawkeye said as he saw that he hit the man.

"Come on," Hawkeye said grabbing Margaret.

They both made their way to the door and stepped outside to the jeep and sat down. Hawkeye started to drive as the one man came out running.


	9. Only For You

9 Only For You

Hawkeye was driving down the road.

"You okay?" Hawkeye asked.

"Fine," she said.

"I have to admit, I've never seen you fire a gun before," Margaret said.

"Don't rub it in," he said.

"But you had no choice, it was either that or die," she said.

"I don't know," Hawkeye said.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"I don't know that either," he said.

Margaret just sighed.

Suddenly they both looked up as they saw a helicopter in the sky.

"Maybe we should follow that," he suggested.

"You don't know whether he's going to pick up wounded or drop them off," she argued.

"What do we have to lose?" he asked.

B.J. was sitting in the swamp drinking from the still. He sighed as he looked over at the empty bunk.

"Maybe it's time for you to realize that that cot may soon be filled by some one else," he said and then took another drink.

B.J. just sat there in the silence as he stared off.

Hawkeye drove the jeep and ended up at the 8063rd.

"Now I know where we are," he said and then continued driving down the road.

"Shouldn't we just stop here for now?" Margaret asked.

"We're not to far from our own unit," he said.

Margaret looked out towards the unit and then looked back over at Hawkeye.

"What was it that you wanted to say?" she asked.

"What?" he asked.

"Back there before they seperated us," she said.

"Oh, nothing," he said.

"Oh," she said.

About twenty minutes later a jeep pulled into the 4077th and Potter went out to meet them. He froze as he saw them get out of the jeep and joined each other in the front. Hawkeye had a torn coat. His face was unshaven and his hair was messy. He put all his wieght on one leg while the other one was drenched in dried blood. Margaret's clothes were torn and her arm was wrapped in the green cloth and was held in a dingy brown sling. She had a bit of a rope burn on her neck while her lip still had wet blood and had a black eye.

"Well I'll be," Potter announced happily as he went over to them.

"Hello sir," Margaret said.

"Hey," Hawkeye said.

"What happened to you two?" Potter asked.

"We were captured," Margaret said.

"Before we celebrate your return we'd better get you two into OR," Potter said.

Potter led them in while Margaret helped Hawkeye while he limped.

Later after they were ready to operate B.J. came and stood before the table and stopped. Hawkeye was laying on his stomach. He poked his head up and smiled at B.J.

"Hawk!" B.J. exclaimed happily.

"Hey Beej," Hawkeye said.

"What happened? We were starting to think that we were never going to see either of you again," B.J. said.

"We were captured. I was shot in the back of the leg and Margaret broke her arm," Hawkeye said.

The nurse came over and put Hawkeye to sleep.

It was about an hour later that Margaret woke up. She sat up and looked over her arm. It was now in a cast. Margaret looked over at Hawkeye who was in the cot next to her. He was sleeping and had a blood IV connected to him. Margaret looked around and then went over and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thankyou," she said and then went back to her own bed.


	10. Never Ending

10 Never Ending

The rest of the day after Hawkeye had woken up many people had come come in and welcomed them back. After dinner time the place quieted down and Margaret and Hawkeye sat in their cots.

"You still worried about making to the 8063rd on time?" Hawkeye asked.

"No," Margaret said preoccupied.

Hawkeye noticed that she wasn't really paying attention.

"How long is your arm gonna be in a cast?" he asked.

"Six weeks," she said.

Margaret sat there just staring.

"What I meant to say was that I'm not happy about what you went through, and I wish you would have never had to go through that, but out of all the people that I could have gotten stuck with, I'm glad it was you," he said.

Hawkeye watched for a moment and then got under the covers to go to sleep. Margaret slightly smiled.

"Before you go to sleep," she said.

"Too late," he said sitting up.

"I'm glad it was you to," Margaret said.

Hawkeye just smiled.

"Good night," he said.

"Good night," she said.

The next week they were both out of post op and back to working. Margaret was assissting Hawkeye in OR.

"You know, you could take the day off," Hawkeye said.

"I have an arm that still works," Margaret said.

"Fine," Hawkeye said.

Hawkeye held up his arms.

"We're done with this one," Hawkeye called out.

A nurse came over and gave him new gloves as a new man was carried in and put infront of them. They both froze as they looked at him. It was the man who had captured them. He looked like he had been in some sort of accident and still had blood where Hawkeye had shot him.

"Oh God," Margaret said.

"I'll understand if you don't want to help with this one," Hawkeye said.

"No, I'm fine," Margaret said.

They operated and then left to go to the mess tent. Hawkeye and Margaret both grabbed their food and went to go join B.J. and Potter.

"How was your first day back?" B.J. asked.

"It was kinda like the first day of school, I dreaded going back," Hawkeye said.

"How about you Margaret?" Potter asked.

"It was okay," Margaret said.

Margaret sat there staring at her tray. She was feeling uneasy knowing that the man who had no problem doing what ever he wanted to her was less then a few yards away from her tent.

"Are you alright?" B.J. asked.

"Yeah," Margaret said turning her attention over to post op.

As she stared Hawkeye looked over at her with concern. Potter and B.J. both looked over at Hawkeye. Hawkeye just looked over at them and shook his head as he went back to eating.

Later that night Margaret went into her tent and sat down as she looked around her tent. Nervously she changed into her pajamas and then climbed into her cot and turned out the light. She nervously laid there in the dark. Over in the swamp all three men had got into their cots and dozed off. Margaret had finally had it and headed over there and knocked on the door.

"Go away!" Charles said with annoyance.

"It's Margaret!" she said.

Hawkeye sighed and went over and opened the door to let her in. Margaret stood there looking more scared than she had ever looked.

"Come in," he said.

She entered the tent and Hawkeye closed the door and then sat down on the cot and motioned for her to join him. Margaret went and sat down on the cot next to him.

"You want a drink?" Hawkeye asked.

"No she doesn't," Charles said.

"Come on Charles," B.J. said.

"Well she comes over in the middle of the night while people are trying to sleep," Charles said.

"Maybe I should just go," Margaret said.

"No, it's fine," Hawkeye said putting his hands on her shoulders.

"What's wrong Margaret? You've been like this all day," B.J. said.

Margaret looked over at him.

"When we left we were captured," she started.

_The man put his arm around her and led her out of the room. The went out and he stopped with her infront of the table. Margaret nervously looked around. The man came over and started to pull off her sling and then her shirt._

_"Stop it!" she yelled as she pushed him back._

_He came back and punched her in the eye which made her fall to the ground. He came over and took her shirt off and threw it off to the side. She tried to crawl away to go grab it but he stopped her. He took her by the shoulders and forced her over to the table. Margaret tried again to get away but e held her. He pushed her back so that she'd fall back onto the table._

"And he took advantage of me," Margaret said.

"And that very man is over in post op right now," Hawkeye said.

"I'm sorry Margaret," Charles said sitting up.

"Would you like to sleep over here tonight?" Hawkeye asked.

Margaret just nodded. He climbed into bed and she got in the cot next to him and he held her close to him as they both fell asleep.


	11. Just Not Yourself

11 Just Not Yourself

Hawkeye woke up. The sun was just beginning to rise. Hawkeye looked over at Margaret who had started crying in her sleep.

"Margaret," he said gently tapping her.

"No!" she yelled out waking up.

Charles and B.J. woke up and turned over.

"Shh," Hawkeye said as Margaret started sobbing.

Hawkeye took Margaret in his arms and embraced her and started rubbing her back.

B.J. and Charles exchanged looks and then decided it be best that they just turn back over and go back to sleep. Hawkeye sat there trying to calm Margaret.

"I need to see for myself that he's still in post op," she said.

Hawkeye pulled her back.

"You want me to take you?" he asked.

Margaret nodded. She sat up as Hawkeye got up and put his robe on. They both headed out and went over to post op where Kelleye was standing standing over one of the patients fixing their IV. The two walked in and Margaret stopped as she looked around the room.

"Hawkeye," she said quietly.

"What?" he asked.

"He's watching me," she said.

Kelleye walked over.

"What are you two doing here?" she asked.

"We just had to check on a patient," he said.

"You don't trust me?" she asked.

"We do. It's just we couldn't sleep and we thought it might be nice to check in," Hawkeye said.

"Well okay," Kelleye said and went back to work.

"Let's get back," Margaret said.

Hawkeye watched as Margaret turned to leave and sighed. The two went back to the swamp and sat on Hawkeye's cot. Margaret nervously looked over at Hawkeye.

"He was watching me," she said.

"Don't worry about it," Hawkeye said.

"He won't do anything here. He can't," he said.

"You don't know that," she said.

"Well, he's not gonna hurt you while I'm here," he said.

Margaret smiled at him.

"Thankyou," she said.

"Come on, let's go back to sleep," he said.

"Alright," she said.

The two got back into bed together and fell asleep. The next morning B.J. woke and turned over. He smiled as he saw Hawkeye and Margaret and then got up and went over to the mess tent for breakfast. It was about an hour later when Hawkeye and Margaret came over to the mess tent. They both grabbed their food and went to go sit down with with B.J. and Colonel Potter.

"Well good morning," Colonel Potter said.

"Good morning sir," Margaret said.

"I heard a scream last night," Potter said.

"I know sir," Margaret said.

"It sounded like you," he said.

"I just had a dream. That's all," she said.

Margaret sat there as she nervously played with her food.

"Are you okay Margaret? You haven't been yourself the last couple of days," Potter said.

Margarte looked around.

"Can I talk to you in private?" she asked.

"Sure," Potter said.

"We can meet in my office right after your shift," he said.

"My shift?" she asked.

"Yeah, remember? You're working post op today," he said.

"Oh, yeah," she said unsure of what to say.

"If you need the day off," Potter started.

"No. Why?" she asked.

"Like I said, you just don't seem yourself," he said.

"No, I'll work today," she said.


	12. Just My Luck

12 Just My Luck

Margaret was in her tent getting ready to work her shift. She heavily sighed as she exmined herself in the mirror. Nervously she turned and walked out of the door to see Hawkeye standing there.

"You know, you didn't have to work today," he said.

"What reason would I give everyone else?" she asked.

Hawkeye gently lifted her left arm which was still in a cast.

"This might work," he said.

"That doesn't mean that I can't do anything," she said.

"You want me there too?" he asked.

She looked into his eyes and then nodded.

"Okay," he said.

The two walked into post op together and went around to check the charts.

"Hey there," Hawkeye said picking up the first one.

"Hey doc," the young man weakly said.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Okay. Although it looks like I'm doing better then she is," he said pointing at Margaret.

"Hey lady, are you alright?" one of the patients asked.

Hawkeye turned around to see Margaret nervously staring at the North Korean who was devilishly grinning at her while she slowly backed up.

"Hold on," Hawkeye said to his patient.

He got up and went over to Margaret and grabbed her around the waist from behind. She jumped as she felt his hands.

"I'm sorry," he said and then led her over to the desk in the corner and sat her down in the chair.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what happened, I," she was cut off by Hawkeye.

"It's fine," he said.

"Now I'm gonna go take care of the patients and then I'll be right back," he said.

Margaret watched as Hawkeye went off to the other side of the room and started checking charts. While she was watching the patient in the bed next to the desk gave her a look of concern.

"Not to sound nosy, but what just happened over there?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said.

"Well, alright," he said and then turned over.

Margaret decided to get the paperwork out of the way so she did that while Hawkeye was taking care of tha patients.

"Now it's your turn miss. How are you feeling?" Hawkeye asked standing before the desk.

"Fine," she said.

"You know, we've only got four more hours of this and then we can get out of here," he said.

"I know," she said.

When her shift was finally over they both left to go over to Colonel Potter's office.

Radar poked his head in on Colonel Potter.

"Major Houlihan and Captain Pierce here to see you sir," Radar said.

"Send them in," he said.

Radar opened the door a little bit more and motioned for them to both come in. The two came in and sat down infront of his desk.

"What can I help you two with?" he asked looking up from papers that were scattered out on his desk.

"Do you think you can get the two of us passes to Tokyo for the weekend?" Hawkeye asked.

Margaret just looked over at him with confusion.

"I never said anything about leaving," she said.

"May I ask you two what is going on here?" Potter asked.

"That man in post op, the North Korean, he's the one that captured us," Margaret said.

"And she's been real jumpy and I thought that it might be a good idea to get her away from camp for the weekend and away from him," Hawkeye said.

He sighed.

"I don't know. You've got a very good reason for wanting to leave, but we're supposed to get more casualties within the next twenty-four hours," Potter said.

"How about right after surgery?" Hawkeye asked.

"Alright," Potter said.

Suddenly they heard a scream and a gun shot. All three got up and ran out. Once they got outside there was a group crowded around Margaret's tent. Margaret ran over and shoved her way to the front and froze as she looked in.

"Oh God," she said.


	13. Margaret's Story

13 Margaret's Story

Margaret slowly examined the tent. The whole place was torn apart like some one was looking for something and in the back was the North Korean with blood draining from his belly. He had stabbed himself with a sculpal on accident while trying to escape. In post op Kelleye sat with the sculpal in her shoulder. Margaret stood there frozen. Hawkeye made his way to Margaret and froze as he saw the man. Colonel Potter was making his way up front through the crowd that had gathered.

"Now what in blazis is going on?" he asked.

"Oh no," he said quietly to himself as he saw the man.

"Okay everyone back to what they were doing," Potter said.

"I'm gonna go check on who ever was on duty," Hawkeye said.

"It should be Gwen," Margaret said.

Hawkeye ran over and opened the door to see Kelleye sitting on the floor with the sculpal still in her shoulder. Hawkeye went over to her and helped her up and sat her down on the cot. He had to end up operating and her to get the sculpal out so that it wouldn't cause any nerve damage. While he did that Charles worked on the North Korean. While they were in the operating room Margaret sat in the office with Colonel Potter.

"I think maybe instead of the weekend passes I ought to just send you to Tokyo until he's out of here," he said.

"Alright," she said.

"You want Pierce to accompany you?" he asked.

"Yes," she said.

"Okay," he said.

Potter looked up her. He could easily tell that she was now very scared.

"Is there something you want to talk about?" he asked.

"I know you're concerned, but I don't think you want to hear about it," she said.

"I know what goes on in those places," he said.

"We were driving and I heard gunshots and the tire was blown out, the next thing I know Hawkeye is telling me to turn around and there was a man holding a gun and then we end up in this old hut. The man came in and shoved me against the wall. I knew what he had in mind and so did Hawkeye. He ended up tripping the man, but when he went down so did I and that is how I broke my arm. Anyways we got out and ended up on a path and that's where Hawkeye was shot. Then we got to a road where the man came along and took us to another building where he locked us in and later he came back in and knocked Hawkeye out and," she started crying.

Hawkeye came through the door and sat down next to Margaret.

"Kelleye's fine, she was stabbed in the shoulder but she'll be back to her old self in about two days," he said.

"Hawkeye, I told Margaret that you and her can go and stay in Tokyo until he leaves," Potter said.

"Alright," Hawkeye said and then turned to Margaret.

"Yeah," she said.

"Okay," Potter said.

"Radar!" he called.

"Here are your two passes," Radar said.

"Thankyou Radar," Potter said.

Radar looked at Margaret in a way that suggested that he had heard the story.

"Dismissed," Potter said.

Radar left and Margaret looked over at Colonel Potter.

"He heard everything didn't he?" she asked.

"Maybe, but you can trust him," Potter said.

"Come on," Hawkeye said.

"Let's go pack and see if Klinger can get us a jeep," Hawkeye said.

The two stood up.

"Thankyou," Margaret said.

"Your welcome," he said.

They both left and went to Margaret's tent together where everything was still wrecked. She walked in slowly and grabbed her suitcase and picked up different clothing items and packing them. Next they headed over to the swamp and Hawkeye packed a few things. Once he was done they both took their bags and headed over to Klinger.

"Hey Klinger!" Hawkeye called as he was walking up behind him.

"Yes?" he asked turning around.

"Do you have a jeep avialiable?" Hawkeye asked.

"Yeah, where are you going?" Klinger asked.

"Tokyo," Hawkeye said.

"How long?" he asked.

"I'd say a week," Margaret said.

"Wow," Klinger said.

"You guys got lucky, Colonel Potter must be feeling generous today huh?" Klinger asked.

"Must be," Margaret said.

Klinger lead them to their jeep and said good bye to them. They both threw their things into the back and then Hawkeye got in and started driving towards the airport.


	14. Tokyo Nights

14 Tokyo Nights

They arrived at the airport and boarded the plane. As they took off Margaret gave a sigh of relief. Hawkeye looked over at her and smiled.

"You feel better now?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said.

Margaret just turned and looked out the window. Hawkeye smiled and then grabbed her hand. Margaret looked down at her hand and then looked over at Hawkeye who was smugly grinning at the stewardist who was passing by. Margaret smiled.

"You'll never change will you?" she asked herself.

Once they arrived at the hotel they got their room and went up to go get settled down.

"In a couple of hours do you want to go out to dinner?" Hawkeye asked.

"Actually, if you don't mind, I think I'd rather just stay in tonight," she said.

"Yeah, that's fine," he said.

"You know, if you want to, you can still go out," she said.

"No, I think I'll stay in tonight to," he said.

That night they both stayed with each other and laughed, which they hadn't done in a while. The next morning they both went down to breakfast and then went shopping together and stopped back at the hotel to clean up for dinner later on that day.

"You know Margaret, I've never understood why you girls always need so many pairs of shoes," Hawkeye said.

He was sitting on the bed holding up the shoes that Margaret had bought and looking through the bag with the other hand.

"So that we can look nice," she said.

"I only have two pairs of shoes and nobody complains about how I look," he said.

Margaret came walking out of the bathroom.

"I'm ready to go if you are," she said.

"Alright," Hawkeye said getting up.

They left the hotel and started walking to a restoruant that was down the street. They stopped at the corner with a crowd of people infront of a jewlry store. Hawkeye glanced over and a ring in the window that was on display caught his eye. He smiled at it and then smiled over at Margaret. They were finally able to cross and made their way to the restoraunt and walked in and were seated by a waiter.

"Thankyou," Margaret said.

"For what?" Hawkeye asked.

"For today. Today I had fun, which I hadn't done in a long time," she said.

"I had fun to," he said.

"And also for putting up with me lately. I was scared," she said.

"I understand. I didn't like him being there either," he said.

The rest of the night was pretty quiet. Hawkeye kept thinking about the ring that he had seen in the window on the way there and he didn't know if he could get it or not. After dinner was over and she was in the shower Hawkeye decided to sneak out and head over to the jewlry store. He walked in and went over to the counter.

"May I help you?" the man asked.

"Yes, I'd like that ring," he said pointing down at the ring that looked just like the one in the window.

"Expensive taste huh?" he asked.

"Why? How much is it?" Hawkeye asked.

"Three thousand dollars," the man said.

"How about twenty five hundred?" Hawkeye asked.

"Well," he said.

"It's all I've got," Hawkeye said.

"Deal," the man said.

"Thankyou," Hawkeye said.

The man got the ring for him and handed it to him and took the money. Hawkeye grabbed the ring and then headed back to the htel and up to his room. He opened the door as Margaret was just stepping out of the bathroom.

"Where were you at?" she asked.

"Seeing how expensive th drinks were," Hawkeye said.

"Figures," she said.

"Hey Margaret?" he asked.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Would you say that we've grown a little closer?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said.

"How close?" he asked.

Margaret turned around and gave him a look of confusion.

"What do you mean?' she asked.

"I just mean how close do you think we've grown?' he asked.

"Is this going somewhere?" she asked.

Hawkeye sighed as he got down on one knee and pulled out the ring.

"Hawkeye," she said.

"Margaret Houlihan, would you marry me?" he asked.


	15. Undecided

15 Undecided

Margaret stood there in shock.

"I, I don't know," she said.

"When will you know?" he asked.

"I don't know," she said.

Margaret went over and sat down on the bed.

"If it's a no you can tell me," Hawkeye said as he went over to her.

"Actually it's probally better if you do tell me," he said.

Margaret sighed.

"I don't want to say no," she said.

Margaret looked over at Hawkeye who was looking back at her with hopeful eyes.

"But I don't want to say yes either," she said.

"You know there's no pressure on you. You can take as long a you want," he said.

"I just don't know what to say Hawkeye," she said.

Margaret got up and paced the floor.

"I mean, don't get me wrong. I am greatful for everything thing that you've done for me," she said and then went back and sat down next to Hawkeye and looked him in the eyes.

"But look at what we've just been through. How do know that these feelings you have won't just wear off after this whole thing is over? I'm sorry but I just got over a messy divorice and I don't think I can do that again," she said.

"So it's a no," Hawkeye said with disappointment.

"I'm sorry Hawkeye," she said.

He got up and then turned to her.

"It's okay, I don't want you to go through that again either," he said.

"See, you don't even think that it would work out that well," she said as she stood up and went over to him.

"Actually I do, but it won't work if there's only one person who thinks it'll work," he said.

"I just don't want to risk it again," Margaret said.

"Margaret! Everything's a risk! Life is one big risk. You took a risk when you came to Korea, when you started fooling around with Frank and then when you married Donald. Everyday you take a big risk just by stepping into the OR. You don't know if any of those patients will try to attack you, or if any of them has live amo in them. What if you get cut and you end up getting a disease that one of the patients has? Or what if you slip up in OR and cost a patient their life?" he asked.

Margaret sighed.

"Sure made my job easier," she said sarcastically while trying to lighten the mood.

Margaret looked Hawkeye straight in the eyes.

"You obviously have a lot of faith in this," she said.

"I wouldn't have asked in the first place if I didn't," Hawkeye said.

"Just let me ask you this. Would you have done all of this for any other woman?" she asked.

"Well, I would hate to see anybody get raped or killed. But I think you are the first one that I've willing woken up at five in the morning with so that she could walk across the compound and glance in at post op to see that a patient is there," he said.

"I'll think about it," she said.

"The fact that I woke up at five in the morning?" he asked.

"No, about your offer on marriage," she said.

"Take your time," he said.

"I think that I'm gonna try and get some sleep, I've had a busy day," Margaret said.

"Alright, I'm gonna go call and see how everythings going back at camp," Hawkeye said.

Hawkeye went downstairs and used the phone to go call. The phone rang over in Colonel Potter's office and Radar answered.

"Mash 4077th," he said.

"Hey Radar, it's Hawkeye," he said.

"Hey, how are things going over there?" Radar asked.

"Pretty good. How are things over there?" he asked.

"They just finished up with a batch of wounded," he said.

"So no one's awake are they?" he asked.

"No, but I'll tell them you called," Radar said.

"Alright, good night Radar," Hawkeye said.

"Night Hawkeye," he said and then hung up the phone.

Hawkeye went back up to the room and opened the door to see Margaret already asleep.

"Good night," he said softly while watching her.


	16. Proving You Love Me

16 Proving You Love Me

The next morning when Margaret woke up Hawkeye was still sleeping. Carefully, she got out of bed and went over to the bathroom to brush her teeth. As she picked up her tooth brush she noticed the ring over on the table right side the bathroom. Margaret set down her tooth brush and went over to the table. She looked over at Hkeye to make sure that he was still asleep.

"Hawkeye?" she called quietly.

There was no answer.

"You just better not wake up until I get back into the bathroom," she said quietly to herself.

Margaret picked up the ring and put it on her finger. Margaret sighed as she slightly smiled while looking over the ring. Her smile quickly faded as she remember her marriage with Donald. She then took it off and set it on the table and went back into the bathroom. As she looked in the mirror at herself she wondered how she really felt about Hawkeye's proposal.

After Margaret was done getting ready she decided to wake Hawkeye.

"Hawkeye?" she called while tapping his shoulder.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I just thought that you might want to get up," she said.

"What time is it?" he asked.

"Nine," she said.

"Alright," he said sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"Come on, you want breakfast don't you?" she asked.

"I guess," he said as he got out of bed.

Margaret waited while he got ready. Margaret was still thinking about the proposal.

"Once we get back to camp and start working it'll almost be as if nothin happened and any feelings of closeness that we have for each other will wear off," she thought to herself.

"I'm ready," Hawkeye said walking over to the bed and grabbing the keys to the room off of the night stand.

Margaret smiled.

"Okay, let's go," she said as she got up.

The two headed downstairs. On the way to the dining room Hawkeye was called to the desk where there was a call for him

"You go ahead, I'll be there in a minute," he said and then went over to the phone.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Well hello, this is Colonel Potter," he said.

"Hi Colonel, how are things going over there?" Hawkeye asked.

"Actually, that's why I called. The man that was bothering Margaret is being transfered this afternoon. You think the two of you can come back tomorrow?" he asked.

"I guess," Hawkeye said.

"Alright, see you then," Potter said.

The two hung up. Hawkeye slowly made his way over to the dining and stopped in the entrance as he scammed the place for Margaret. Once he found her he went over to her and sat down.

"Who was it?" she asked.

"That was Colonel Potter. The man is being transfered and he wants us to come back tomorrow," Hawkeye said.

"So this is our last day here," she said.

"I wasn't ready to go," Hawkeye said.

"Since when where you ever ready to go to work?" she asked.

"Never," he said.

"Well I bet your glad that this whole thing is finally over with. Now you don't have to worry about that man anymore," he said.

"Yeah, but it might take awhile to get me to go on another trip with out feeling nervous," she said.

"I can see that," he said.

Margaret sat ther silently as she poked at her food. Hawkeye looked up and noticed.

"You don't want to go back do you?" he asked.

"No," she said.

"Is it for the same reason I don't want to go back?" he asked.

"I don't know. I know it sounds silly, but I'm kinda nervous about going back," she said.

"It's not that silly," he said.

"Yes it is," she said.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because, there is nothing left over there that can hurt me," she said.

"That doesn't mean that you can't be nervous about going back," he said.

"I don't know," she said.

"It makes sense. There are memories you have about what happened and you just don't want that to happen again to any of us and going back would just remind you," he said.

"You a psychiatrist now?" she asked.

"It doesn't take a professional to tell you're nervous," he said.

Margaret sighed and total silence fell upon the two.

"Did Colonel Potter mention anything about how Kelleye was doing?" she asked.

"No, but I can tell you that she's gonna be fine," he said.

"That's a relief," she said.

"If you want when we get back I can help you get your tent back in order," he offered.

"Please, you can't even keep your tent. How do you expect me to let you try to organize mine?" she asked.

"Just trying to help," he said.

They both sat in silence again.

"Before we leave we have to stop off at the jewelry store," he said.

"Why?" she asked.

"I'm gonna take back the ring," he said.

"Why would you take it back? It was expensive, maybe some one else will want it," she asked.

"Come on Margaret, you know how women get if they find out that the ring wasn't originally for them," he said.

"Well it isn't for me," she said.

"You want it don't you?" he asked while smugly grinning.

"What makes you say that?" she asked.

"Why else wouldn't you want me to return it?" he asked.

"I never said that I didn't want you to return it," she said.

"Then why do you keep asking me why I have to return it?" he asked still grinning.

"Just curious," she said.

"If you want it you can have it," he said.

"But I haven't even told you my answer," she said.

"You made it pretty clear that you weren't ready yet," he said.

"You're right," she said.

Hawkeye just giggled.

"You can still have it," he said.

"No, it's fine, we can return it right before we leave tomorrow morning," she said.

The next morning Hawkeye told Margaret that he was going to go return it while she was getting ready. He headed out the door and went down over to the elevator and went downstairs and left. Once he got to the corner he stopped and thought about what he was doing as he held the ring in his hand and studied it.

"Maybe I shouldn't," he said to himself and then slipped the ring back into his pocket and then circled the street a few times to pass the time to make it seem like he did go down and return it.

Once he got back to the hotel he saw Margaret going through her suitcase to make sure that she had everything.

"Hello," he said as he walked in.

"Hello," she said without taking her attention away from her luggage.

"You ready to go?" he asked.

"In a minute," she said.

"I'm making sure that I got everything," she said.

"Well, I only brought a couple of things so I'm pretty sure that I'm ready," he said.

"Okay," she said, "let's go."

Hawkeye went over and they each grabbed two bags and left the room and headed for the airport. Once they got on the plane Margaret just stared down at her hands while she fiddled with her fingers.

"You okay?" Hawkeye asked.

"I'm fine," she said.

"If you say so," he said.

Margaret spent the rest of the ride thinking about the ring and wishing that he hadn't returned it. Once they started to land Hawkeye looked over at Margaret.

"You know, it's a while back to the camp. You think you'll be okay?" he asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?" she asked.

"I don't know, I was just thinking about when you told me that you might have trouble taking long trips," he said.

"I'll be fine," she said.

"Just making sure," he said.

Once they got to a jeep Hawkeye started driving and after about an hour he noticed that Margaret kept peeking to see if anyone was behind them.

"Think some one's back there?" he asked.

"Just checking," she said.

"You'll be fine, I promise," he said.

"Alright," she said.

About an hour later they arrived back at camp and Hawkeye took his things over to his tent and then went back and took Margaret's things back to her tent for her.

"Here you go," he said.

She was standing in the doorway nervously examining her tent. Hawkeye turned about to leave but stopped.

"You know, you can come back to the swamp with me if you want," he said.

"Maybe later," she said.

Hawkeye headed back over to the swamp and told B.J. about his trip. An hour later he went back over to Margaret's tent to see how she was doing. He knocked on the door.

"May I come in?" he asked.

"Come in," she said.

Hawkeye opened the door and went in and closed the door behind him.

"Just came to see how you were doing," he said.

"I'm doing good. I just got the place cleaned up," she said.

"Alright, well it's about dinner time so I'm gonna be over at the mess tent," Hawkeye said.

That night while everyone in the swamp was asleep there was a scream that was heard through out the camp. Hawkeye jumped up when he heard it and then got out of bed to go see if it was Margaret. He went across the compound and opened the door.

"Margaret?" he asked.

She was in her bed crying. He went over and sat down by her.

"Shh, it's okay," he said while he started rubbing her shoulder.

Margaret sat up. Her face was red and puffy from crying.

"I'm sorry," she said wiping her face.

"It's fine," he said.

"It was just a dream," she said.

"If you want to you can come and stay in the swamp," he said.

Margaret just nodded. Hawkeye helped her up and led her over to the swamp. They both entered and then they both got into Hawkeye's cot. Once they were both in bed Hawkeye whispered into her ear.

"It's gonna be okay," he said.

"Thankyou," she said.

The next morning they woke up and headed over to the mess tent for breakfast.

"About last night," Margaret said.

"What about it?' he asked.

"Thankyou for being patient with me and thankyou for being there," she said.

"I couldn't let you stay over there by yourself," Hawkeye said.

"And that's why I think that maybe we should give the engagement a chance," she said.

"What?" he asked.

"When you proposed to me I wasn't sure of what to say, but last night, when there was absolutly nothing out there that could hurt me you still made me feel safer, you were there when you didn't have to be. Which is why I'm going to accept your proposal, as long as we can stay engaged for at least two months just to see how it works out," she said.

"That's fine with me," he said smiling.

"And since you already returned the ring I don't need one," she said.

"That's what you think," he said.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"What I mean is," he started and then dug through his pocket.

"That I didn't return it," he said presenting it to her

Margaret smiled as she took the ring.

"Thankyou," she said.

"Thankyou for at least giving it a chance," he said.

They both leaned towards each other and kissed for a while. While they were kissing B.J. walked in and stopped once he saw them and smiled.


	17. Donald's Party

17 Donald's Party

Hawkeye stood up on the bench and smiled down at Margaret.

"Guess what everyone!" Hawkeye called out happily.

"I proposed and she said yes!" he announced.

Random congradulations came from through out the room as B.J. went over to them and sat down across from Hawkeye.

"I heard the news," B.J. said.

"Congradulations you two," he said.

"Thankyou," Margaret said.

"We'll celebrate tonight over at the Officer's Club," B.J. said.

"Okay," Hawkeye said.

Margaret sat there staring at the ring. It was bigger then the one Donald had gotten her. She smiled at it.

"I heard the news."

Margaret looked up and saw Colonel Potter sitting across from them.

"I wanted to congradulate you two," he said.

"Thanks Colonel," Hawkeye.

"Thankyou sir," Margaret said.

"Before the wedding you want a party like we gave Donald?" B.J. asked.

"Knowing what you'd end up doing to me? No," Hawkeye said.

"Why? What happened at Donald's party?" she asked.

Hawkeye and B.J. exchanged looks.

"Well?" she asked.

Hawkeye laughed.

"Now you are really going to think this is funny. But before anything else is said, let me tell you that this was all B.J.'s idea," Hawkeye said and then looked over at B.J.

"Remember when Donald broke his legs?" B.J asked.

"What did you two do?" she sternly asked.

"His legs weren't really broken," B.J. said.

"And you just let us leave without so much as one word to let me know!?" she yelled.

"Well, we did tell you, it was drowned out by the noise from the chopper," Hawkeye said.

"That's still no excuse!" she yelled.

"Oh come on Margaret! Donald's gone! You've divoriced him. And from the way you talk about him now you sound as if he deserved it," Hawkeye said.

"I guess you're right," she said still sounding annoyed.

Margaret stood up.

"I have to go on duty now," she said and then left.

"Bye sweety!" Hawkeye called out playfully.

Margaret glared back but then her expression softened to a small smile.


	18. Guilt

18 Guilt

Margaret walked into post op. She felt a streak of guilt as she saw Kelleye in one of the beds. Margaret went over to the nurse that was on duty before her.

"I'm here to take over for you Nancy," Margaret said.

"Finally, I've only slept fours in the past couple of days. This nap means more than anything to me right now," Nancy said.

"Bye," Margaret said.

"Bye," Nancy said.

Margaret went throgh and checked up on the patients. She got to Kelleye.

"Hi major," she said.

"How are you doing?" Margaret asked.

"I'm fine," Kelleye said.

"Good," Margaret said and then looked through the chart.

"It looks like you'll be able to go back to the nurses tent tomorrow," Margaret said.

"Is something bothering you?" Kelleye asked.

"No," Margaret said.

"Are you sure?" Kelleye asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Margaret said.

The two sat there silently.

"Well, I've got to get back to work," Margaret said.

Margaret finished up her shift and nurse Able came in.

"Here, before you start," Margaret said and then led her to Kelleye's bed.

"I was excited and I wanted to wait for a few people," Margaret said and then held up her left hand.

They both smiled as they saw the ring.

"Who's the new fiancee?" Able asked.

"Captain Hawkeye Pierce," Margaret said.

"Hey, congradulations," Kelleye said.

Before the conversation could get any further one of the patients started gasping.

"Well I guess it's back to work," nurse able said.

They both headed over and helped the patient.

After Margaret left she headed over to the officer's club and sat down at the counter next to Colonel Potter.

"Hey Margaret, how's the engagement so far?" he asked.

"I haven't seen him since I went on duty," she said.

"Everything alright? You sound kind of sad for someone who was just engaged," he said.

"Yeah, it just feels wierd being back I guess," she said.

"That's normal," he said.

Margaret looked over and saw as Hawkeye entered.

"Excuse me sir," she said.

Margaret walked over to Hawkeye.

"Hey Margaret," he said.

"Can I talk to you?" she asked.

"Sure," he said.

They both went outside and headed around to the back of the building.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I saw Kelleye in there," she said.

"And you feel guilty," he said.

"Hawkeye! That man was after me and she happened to be there at the time," Margaret said.

"Margaret, she's fine. In a week it'll almost be like you never even saw the man. He's gone and Kelleye will be on duty," he said.

"I wish it were that simple," she said as she walked away.

Hawkeye just sighed as he watched her walk away.


	19. The Flu

19 The Flu

It was a few days later and everyone was gathered in Colonel Potter's office for a staff meeting. There had been a flu going around. It wasn't deadly but it had the majority of the camp sick.

"Where's Winchester?" Potter asked.

"Outside puking," Hawkeye said.

Potter sighed.

"Wonderful," he said.

"Now we're down to three surgeons and four nurses. I think the rest of you ought to try avoid the sick people," Potter said.

"You hear that Beej? He's telling us to stay out of the OR," Hawkeye said.

"Then what are we still here for?" B.J. asked.

"What I mean is just try your hardest to stay away from the people with the flu," Potter said.

"Won't that offend them?" B.J. asked.

"Come on you two. I'm serious. We can't afford to lose any more of our staff," Potter said.

"Alright, but won't that be just a little hard considering that Charles lives with us?" Hawkeye asked.

"You can come stay with me in my tent," Margaret said.

"Where am I supposed to go?" B.J. asked.

"I guess you can bring a cot and stay with us if you want," Margaret said.

That night Margaret was sitting on her cot brushing her hair. There was a knock on the door.

"It's open!" she yelled.

Hawkeye came in and sat down next to her.

"Thanks for letting me stay over here," Hawkeye said.

"We've been doing the same thing over in your tent, I didn't think that it really made a difference," she said.

Hawkeye leaned over and kissed her. They sat there kissing and were interupted by a knock on the door. They pulled apart.

"Wouldn't you know it?" he asked sounding disappointed.

"Come in!" Margaret yelled.

B.J. came in carrieing his cot and sat it down on the other side of the room. As he was setting it up he looked up and noticed them sitting next to each other and watching him.

"I didn't intrude on anyone did I?" B.J. asked.

"No," Margaret said.

"Says you," Hawkeye said.

"Well, I'm gonna ho to sleep, so it doesn't matter to me what you two do," B.J. said.

"How far do you think we're gonna go?" Margaret asked annoyed with his comment.

"I just meant talking and occasional kissing. What did you think I meant?" B.J. asked playing innocent.

"Right," Hawkeye said.

"Goodnight Hawk, goodnight Margaret," B.J. said.

"Night Beej," Hawkeye said.

"Maybe we should get some sleep to," Margaret said.

"Alright," Hawkeye said.

They both climbed into the cot and Hawkeye leaned over and turned out the light.

"Goodnight," he said as he kissed her cheek.

"Goodnight Hawkeye," she said.

"And remember, I'm right here," he said.

She didn't know why, but those words made her feel more comfortable.

Hawkeye woke up early the next morning and went out to use the latrine. Margaret woke up while he was gone. She turned over to look for Hawkeye.

"Hawkeye?" she asked.

She had woken up from another nightmare and had already been crying. Margaret wasn't thinking clearly yet and still felt like she was dreaming.

"Hawkeye?" she called again.

"They killed him," she said.

B.J. woke up when he heard her. Once he saw her crying he got up and went over to her.

"Margaret, its okay, Hawkeye's fine," B.J. said.

Margaret finally realized.

"Right," she said.

Hawkeye walked in and saw B.J. and Margaret. Right away he could tell that something was wrong. He went over and sat next Margaret.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said on the verge of tears.

Hawkeye embraced her and B.J. went back over to his cot. Hawkeye got her to calm down and they all went back to sleep for a little bit until it was time for breakfast. Once they were up they headed to the mess tent together.

"Hawkeye, I know the food is bad here but you've got to eat something," B.J. said.

"I don't think I can," he said.

"Why not? You've it before," B.J. said.

"Because," Hawkeye said and then got up and ran out of the tent.

"That's why," B.J. said.

"Great, another one that'll out for a week," Margaret said.

Later that day Colonel Potter had called another meeting and only B.J. and Margaret walked in.

"Where's Pierce?" Potter asked.

"He came down with the flu," Margaret said.

"Well that's just dandy," he said sarcastically.

"There better not be any wounded," Potter said.

"Radar!" Potter called.

Radar came into the office.

"Yes sir," he said.

"Go see if we're expecting any wounded," both Potter and Radar said at the same time.

"Yes Colonel Potter sir," Radar said and then left the room.

"I don't think I can do this much longer," Potter said to himself.

"We can't help getting the flu," B.J. said.

"I know that," Potter said.

Radar came back in.

"No casualties until the middle of next week sir," Radar said.

"Thankyou Radar," Potter said.

"And Major Houlihan, there's some one here to see you," he said.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"They want it to be a surprise mam," he said.

Margaret sighed as she headed outside. Margaret froze when she got outside.


	20. Causing Trouble

20 Causing Trouble

"Hello Margaret," he said.

"Donald?" she asked.

Margaret was very surprised by his visit and didn't know what say upon his arrival.

"Yes?" he asked.

Margaret finally gathered herself as the memories of their marriage flooded her mind.

_"To my dearest Darlene," she said reading the letter._

_"I don't think I could spend another night dancing with Lt. Donald," the nurse said._

_"Lt.Donald?" Margaret asked._

_"Oh I'm sure it was another Donald," the nurse said._

_"I just got a call from the hotel. Appearently while I was working here last weekend Mrs.Penobscott left her night gown in one of the rooms!" Margaret said._

"I told you I never wanted to see you again," Margaret said sternly.

"I never heard that," Donald said.

"I guess you never heard the wedding vows either," Margaret said.

"Look," Donald started.

"No you look! You broke my heart many times and I will never forgive you and I never want to see you again," Margaret said and then turned to walk away but Donald grabbed her shoulder.

Mararet sighed.

"You can move your hand or lose it," she said.

"Make me," he said.

Margaret quickly turned around.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

"What ever you think it means," he said.

Margaret just turned back around and started to leave and again Donald grabbed her shoulder. This time when he grabbed her he pulled her back and turned her around and started kissing her.

Hawkeye was over in the Swamp.

"I guess I'd better go see what I missed at that meeting," he said.

"Why?" Charles asked.

"Because if I don't some one will come in and gladly tell us the whole story while we're trying to sleep," he said.

"You're right, go ahead," Charles said.

"It's nice to know that I've got a Winchester's approval," Hawkeye said mockingly.

He got up an walked out the door and then headed over to the Colonel's office. Once he got to the office he saw Margaret and Donald kissing.

"Margaret?" he said as he froze.

Margaret pushed Donald away. Her eyes widened as she saw Hawkeye standing there.

"Hawkeye," she said.

Hawkeye just shook his head and walked back to the swamp. Margaret turned towards Donald and glared and then slapped him on the cheek.

"How could you?" she yelled and then went after Hawkeye.

Margaret caught up to Hawkeye.

"Hawkeye," she said.

"What?" he asked.

Margaret could hear it in his voice how upset he was.

"I need to talk to you," she said.

"Really? I thought you were to busy with your boyfriend over there," Hawkeye said sarcastically.

"That wasn't my fault," she said.

"So he made you kiss him?" Hawkeye asked.

"Yes he did," Margaret said.

"Margaret! I've seen you with men! You don't let them get away with that kind of stuff so don't tell me he forced you!" Hawkeye angrily said.

Hawkeye stormed off and then turned around.

"And don't even think of getting in my cot with me tonight," he said and then continued.

Margaret stormed back to her tent. Once she got inside she closed the door and cried as she sat on the cot.


	21. Donald's Secret

21 Donald's Secret

Margaret sat in her tent by herself. The tears streaked down her cheeks as she studied her ring.

"First Donald comes and takes my heart and breaks it. When he's down with that he comes and ruins what I do have."

Margaret wiped the tears from her face. She felt as lonelier than she thought she would ever feel. Margaret had just gone through hell with being captured and then she had a hard time getting over and through all of this there was one person who was with her through out that whole time, Hawkeye. Hawkeye was the one who got her away from the man the first time. Hawkeye was the one who took care of her arm when she broke it. Hawkeye was the one who was there for her when she got tooken advantage of. He seemed to understand that it would take a while for her to get over that and to be patient.

"And now I don't even have that."

Hawkeye stormed into the swamp and laid down on his cot.

"Bad meeting?" Charles asked.

"I wouldn't know. I wasn't there," Hawkeye said with anger in his voice.

"I thought you said you were going to see what we missed. Now we're going to have one of them come and tell us," Charles said.

"How can you ever forgive me?" Hawkeye asked sarcastically.

Hawkeye laid there on the cot wondering why. Why she would kiss the man who obviously didn't give a damn about her. And how. How she could just blow off her relationship with him and go off into the arms of that cheating little weasle.

Donald waited for everyone to clear out of the office and then headed in.

"May I please see your Commanding Officer?" Donald asked.

Radar knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Potter called out.

Radar poked his head in.

"There's some one here to see you sir," Radar said.

"Send them in," he said looking up from his paper work.

Donald came walking through the door. At that minute his face fell.

"Hello sir," Donald said. 

"Hello," Potter said bluntly.

"I was wondering if you're VIP tent was availible," Donald said.

"Now Donald, I don't know why you're here or what you're intentions are. But I do have one thing to say and that is look out. I sat here with Margaret when you decided to run off to California. That girl is like a daughter to me and I don't want you to hurt her again. Got it?" Potter asked.

Donald started to get uncomfortable.

"You didn't answer my question sir," Donald said.

"Check with Margaret first," he said.

"Alright," Donald said.

"Old fool," he whispered as he walked out.

Radar's eyes widened.

"Hey! That's the colonel you're talking about!" Radar said.

Donald and turned around.

"Sorry," he said sounding very insincere.

"That's better," Radar said as he grabbed his clipboard.

Colonel Potter walked out.

"Alright Radar, let's go," Potter said.

Donald stood there as he watched hem leave and then went over to the phone.

Over in the swamp Hawkeye was sitting over by the still.

"You know, I don't even know why he's here," Hawkeye said.

Charles turned over and looked at him with annoyance.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"You haven't been listening at all have you?" Hawkeye asked.

"No, and I don't care," he said and then turned back over.

"Just shut up," Charles said.

"Fine then," Hawkeye said.

Hawkeye got up and went over to the door.

"I guess I'll leave," Hawkeye said.

"As long as it's quiet," Charles said.

Hawkeye stepped outside.

"I mine as well," he said to himself.

Hawkeye headed over towards Colonel Potter's office. He wanted to know if there was a reason why Donald was there and if Colonel Potter knew anything about it. Hawkeye got to the door and stopped once he heard Donald's voice.

"Yeah, I should be back sometime next week," Donald said.

Hawkeye stood there with his ear to the door.

"Look, I kissed her and her boyfriend saw. I over heard the whole thing," Donald said.

Hawkeye's eyes widened.

"That little," he started to say.

He suddenly realized that there was some one standing behind him.

"Is some thing wrong?" he asked.

"No Colonel," he said turning around.

"You just decided to ease drop on what ever was going on?" Potter asked.

"There was nothing to do today," Hawkeye said.

"I think you're more sick than you thought," Potter said.

Donald came out and walked pass them both. Potter looked over at Hawkeye with a face that stated he knew what was going on. Colonel Potter signalled him to come into his office. They both walked in and sat down.

"Now I know that seeing Donald here would make you nervous. Trust me, I don't like the idea any more then you do, but spieing on him won't get you any where," Potter said.

"Yes it did," Hawkeye said.

"What happened?" Potter asked.

"I caught them kissing," Hawkeye said.

"Now I find that hard to believe," Potter said.

"I know, I just heard what was really going on," Hawkeye said.

"Does she know that you know?" Potter asked.

"Well, I was mad," Hawkeye started.

"Oh boy," Potter said.

"And I sort of told her that I didn't want to see her," Hawkeye said.

"That girl goes through hell and you abandon her!? You jackass! You know that she would never go back to Donad after what he did to her!" he angrily said.

"I know," Hawkeye said.

Hawkeye got up.

"What are you going to do?" Potter asked.

"First I'll go see what Donald is up to," Hawkeye said.

And with that he was out the door.


	22. There Has To Be A Reason

22 There Has To Be A Reason

Hawkeye stood infront of the VIP tent and knocked on the door.

"Yes?" Donald asked casually as he opened the door.

"May I come in?" Hawkeye asked.

Donald moved to the side and motioned for him to come in. Hawkeye walked in and didn't glance at Donald as he passed him.

"What do you think you are doing?" Hawkeye asked with annoyance while finally facing him.

"About what?" Donald asked.

"You know what I mean. Margaret has been through enough, she doesn't need you," Hawkeye said.

"She also didn't need you to get mad at her," Donald said.

"That's your fault," Hawkeye said.

"I didn't tell you to get mad," Donald said.

"And no one told you to come here," Hawkeye said.

"I made that choice on my own, sort of like you made the choice to yell at Margaret," Donald said.

"Will you stop rubbing that in my face and tell me why the hell you're here!" Hawkeye snapped losing his patience.

"My family is very religious," Donald started.

"You carry that one out well," Hawkeye said sarcastically.

"They don't believe in divorice and if they find out that I got a divoice they'll cut me out of the will and they happen to have a lot of money," Donald said.

"So?" Hawkeye asked.

"I'm here to ask Margaret to get back together wth me," Donald said.

Hawkeye turned and was about to leave until Donald grabbed his shoulder.

"And don't even think about warning Margaret," Donald said ominously.

"I won't," Hawkeye said.

Hawkeye walked out of the tent and went back to the swamp. He didn't want Donald to see him go straight over to Margaret's tent. That night Margaret was in her tent alone, BJ was on duty and Hawkeye was over in the swamp. As Hawkeye began to doze off he heard a scream.

"Oh no," he said to himself.

Hawkeye got up and walked over to her tent and walked in. He found Margaret curled up in the corner of bed crying.

"Margaret," he said and then went over to her.

Margaret looked up at him.

"I thought you weren't talking to me," she said.

"No, I could never do that," he said.

Hawkeye walked over to her and sat down. He embraced her.

"It was only a dream," he said.

Hawkeye started stroking her hair. He pulled it back and put it behind her neck.

"Oh my God," he muttered.

On her sleeve and around her collar were rips in the clothing and a few traces of wet blood. Hawkeye sighed as he went back to stroking hair.


	23. The Only Threat

23 The Only Threat

The next day Margaret and Hawkeye were eating in the mess tent with BJ, Charles, Radar, and Potter.

"I see you're feeling better Winchester," Potter said.

"Winchesters are known to have quick recoveries from everything," Charles said.

"I'm starting to think the Winchesters are known for everything," BJ said.

"What about me? I could operate if I wanted to," Hawkeye said.

"You want to hear what I think?" Margaret asked almost jokingly.

"What?" Hawkeye asked.

"I think," she said.

Margaret was about to answer but saw Donald. He looked over at her and gave her an ominious looking grin that sent a chill down her back. Donald walked over to his seat and Margaret just kept staring.

"You think what Margaret?" BJ asked.

"Nothing," Margaret said breaking her stare.

Hawkeye and Potter exchanged looks. Hawkeye looked back over at Margaret who was acting normal again.

Radar perked his head up.

"Choppers," Radar said.

They all got up and left. About twelve hours later they came walking out of OR. Tired and worn out they went to their tents. Hawkeye hung around and waited for Margaret.

"Margaret," he called finally spotting her.

"What?" she asked turning around.

"Do you want to have a drink with us over in the swamp?" he asked.

"No, I just want to go back to my tent," Margaret said.

"Alright," Hawkeye said.

Hawkeye walked over to his tent as Margaret walked over to hers. She pulled off her cap as she closed the door behind her. Margaret turned on the light.

"Hello," he said.

Margaret looked up and saw Donald.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I don't know," he said casually.

Donald walked over to Margaret as she nervously watched him.

"Get out Donald," she said sternly.

"Just incase you forgot Major, I'm a I can go where ever I want," he said.

"Look, I'm tired and I just want to go to bed," she said.

"So do I," Donald said.

"To sleep," she said seeing the smirk on his face.

Margaret sighed.

"What do you want?" she asked.

Donald smirked as he gently sat her down on the bed.

"Now remember how we were married?" he asked.

Margaret was nervously watching his hand as went down her neck to her back where he was messing with the ties to her gown. She felt her body start to tense up.

"Yes," she said with her voice starting to sound shaky.

"Well, I think we should get back together," he said finally undoing the first tie.

"No Donald!" she said steading her voice.

"Well then I geuss I'll just have t keep coming back," he said.

Margaret quickly jumped up off the bed.

"Get out!" she said sternly.

Donald just smirk at her.

"Sit down," he said.

"I don't have to take this," she said heading for the door.

"I wouldn't if I were you," he said.

Margaret stopped and turned around. Donald had pulled out a gun.

"Come here and don't make a sound. Got it toots?" he asked.

Margaret slowly waked back over to the cot.

"That's a good girl," Donald said as she sat down.

A tear went down Margaret's face as he started to untie the rest of the strings. She was scared. Right now she wanted to scream at the top of her lungs, but she knew that if she did Donald would have absolutley no problem shooting that gun at anyone. Margaret had already felt guilty about Kelleye and if that bullet missed her it could hit anyone who was outside of her tent.

Over in the swamp Hawkeye was sitting with BJ.

"You know I still feel bad about Margaret," Hawkeye said.

"Trust me, you'll both get over it," BJ said.

"Yeah, but I shouldn't have reacted the way that I did," Hawkeye said.

"Hawk, I would have reacted the ame way if I would have seen her kissing another guy," BJ said.

"But this wasn't just another guy. It was Donald Penobscott, the guy that she despises," Hawkeye said.

"I should have known better," Hawkeye said.

The tent was quiet.

"You know what, I'm going to go over and apologize," Hawkeye said.

He got up and walked over to her tent.

"Margaret?" he called while knocking.

There was no answer so he just walked in.

"Oh my God," Hawkeye said.

He saw Margaret in her slip pressed up against her closet by Donald. He could see Donald's nails digging into her shoulders where he had seen the blood earlier. Both Donald and Margaret froze and turned towards Hawkeye.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Donald asked.

"I should be asking the same question," Hawkeye said.

"I'm just being with my wife," Donald said.

"Correction, she was your wife," Hawkeye said.

Donald just laughed as he shook his head.

"Listen, I'll leave you two alone and tomorrow I'll come back," he said.

Donald just walked out of the tent. Hawkeye ran over to Margaret and took her in his arms.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Margaret looked up at him. Her eyes full of fear.

"I, I," she started.

"Shh, it's okay," he said.

"Here, why don't you get dressed and you can come over and stay in the swamp," he said.

Margaret just nodded and then went over and gathered her pajamas and got dressed. After she was dressed Hawkeye walked her over to the swamp and sat her down on his cot.

"Hey Margaret," BJ said.

"Hey," she said.

Hawkeye could easily see that she was still shook up.

"Would you like a drink?" Hawkeye asked.

"Yeah," she said.

Hawkeye poured her a drink and brought it over to her. As bad as he wanted one he thought it would probally help Margaret feel better if he stayed sober that night.

"Here," he said sitting down next to her.

"Thankyou," she said.

BJ looked over as if about to ask and Hawkeye just looked up at him and shook his head.

"You gonna stay with us tonight Margaret?" BJ asked.

"If you don't mind," Margaret said.

"No, of course not," BJ said.

Margaret sipped at her drink and then looked over at Hawkeye.

"Didn't you want one?" she asked.

"Nah, I'm fine," he said.

Margaret smiled softly at him realizing what he was doing and then went back to her drink.

The next morning Colonel Potter knocked on the door waking them all up.

"Go away!" Charles yelled.

"You heard him," Hawkeye said.

Colonel Potter walked in anyways.

"Glad to see I'm welcome here," he said.

Margaret sat up and Colonel Potter looked over at her and then back over at Hawkeye.

"Anyways," Potter said.

He walked in and stood by the heater.

"There are lectures going on in Tokyo this weekend. It's about a new medical technique on how to fix damaged tendons, and I thought that maybe Pierce, I'll cheif surgeon would like to go," Potter said.

Hawkeye's face lit up. Hawkeye looked over at Margaret and then dropped his smile.

"I'm sorry Colonel. Why don't you send BJ or Charles," Hawkeye said.

"Well, alright, which one of you two would like to go?" Potter asked.

"I would!" Charles said without a moment's hesitation.

"Alright Charles, you're leaving tomorrow morning," he said and then left.

Margaret looked over at Hawkeye and smiled.

"What?" he asked noticing that she was looking at him.

Margaret just leaned over and kissed him. Hawkeye just smiled.

"Anytime," he said.

BJ smiled as he looked over at them and then turned over and went back to sleep.


	24. That Fake Smile

24 That Fake Smile

Hawkeye escorted Margaret out of the swamp. They were heading over to the mess tent for lunch. As they walked in Margaret skimmed the place for Donald. She felt her muscles tighten in her back as she saw him. Everything that had been going on in her life the past few weeks all seemed ser real to her. The being help captive, the patient, Donald coming, it all just seemed like a nightmare that she couldn't wake up from.

"What's wrong?" Hawkeye asked.

Hawkeye was holding her hand. He noticed that when they walked in her grip seemed to get tighter.

"What?" she asked as if coming out of a daydream.

"I asked if you were alright," Hawkeye said.

"Oh, fine," she said.

They both got in line to get their food.

"Mashed potatoes?" Igor asked.

"Sure," Margaret said sounding absent minded.

Hawkeye looked over and tried to follow Margaret's gaze. He finally realized. He saw Donald look up and smile at him. Donald reminded him of a car dealer. He often tried to look as friendly as he could and then tried to get you to trust him with that cheesey smile and the nonsense about how they would never decieve you. Hawkeye shot him back the same cheesy smile that was an instant give away that you were putting on an act.

"What are you doing?" Margaret asked.

"Nothing," Hawkeye said.

He led her over to the table and sat down. Hawkeye noticed that Margaret kept looking over at Donald. Hawkeye leaned over to her.

"I don't think he'll do anything infront of a crowd," Hawkeye said.

"Right," she said.

Margaret played with her food again and then looked back over at Donald. Donald was sitting and eating his lunch. She watched with interest as he took his napkin and cleaned off his face. Once he was done he put the napkin down on the tray and then took the tray and cleaned up. Margaret felt relieved as soon as she knew he was leaving.

"Hey," an all to familiar voice from behind her said.

Margaret nervously turned around and gasped as she saw Donald. She grabbed her chest as she turned around and closed her eyes.

"Hi Donald, how nice to see you," she said bitterly while finally opening her eyes.

Donald sat down next to Margaret and Hawkeye closely watched him. Donald put his arm around Margaret. Hawkeye noticed that Margaret started breathing quickly as she nervously watched his hand. Hawkeye went from across the table to over next to her and removed Donald's arm. Donald looked over at Hawkeye and raised his eyebrows with surprise. It looked to him as though Donald was about to ask how lucky he felt and if he would like to try that again. Hawkeye ignored the look and put his arm around Margaret and pulled her closer to him. Angry, Donald got up and left. They both watched as he left the tent.

"I was wrong wasn't I?" Hawkeye asked.

Margaret looked over and nodded.

"Dead wrong," she said sounding out of breathe.

Hawkeye just pulled her closer until her breathing went back to normal.

"What do you say we go back to the swamp?" Hawkeye asked.

"Alright," Margaret said.

They both got up and walked back over to the swamp together and walked in.

"You know you really should consider cleaning up every once in a while," Margaret said.

"But that would get rid of it's charm," Hawkeye said.

"What charm?" she asked stepping over some dirty clothes.

"It blends in with the war," Hawkeye said.

"I think the war already went through here," she said.

"Hey, you want to go back to your tent?" he asked.

"No, this will do," she said.

"It'll do?" he asked sounding offended.

Meanwhile over in the VIP tent Donald was going through some of his luggage. He pulled out a gun and held it up to his face.

"If this don't get her, nothing will," Donald said.


	25. A Bullet In The Night

25 A Bullet In The Night

That night Hawkeye was on duty in post op. Since Margaret wanted to stay with him she came. Hawkeye sat at the desk while Margaret slept in one of the empty cots. He sat there and watched her sleep.

"I love you," he said softly.

Hawkeye hated the things that she had gone through the last few weeks. He kept seeing the imag of her spitting in the man's face and then of her pressed up against her closet by Donald. Hawkeye just sighed as he got up to go make his rounds. He got to one of the beds and the man woke up.

"Hey," he said.

"You're supposed to be asleep," Hawkeye said.

"I guess I didn't feel like it anymore," the man said.

"I still think you should get your rest, you're going home the day after tomorrow," Hawkeye said.

"I know," he said smiling.

"As long as you're up, how are you feeling?" Hawkeye asked.

"Pretty good. How's that? She wasn't here earlier," he said.

"My fiancee we were sitting up together earlier and she fell asleep," he said.

"I've got one to. Tammy Johnson. We're getting married as soon as I get back," he said.

"Congradulations," Hawkeye said.

"Thanks," he said.

Hawkeye went over to the next cot and read the chart.

"He needs another dose of penicillian," Hawkeye said to himself.

Hawkeye had to go get it from the supply tent. He walked out of post op and walked across the dark compound.

"I wish we coudl just keep this stuff in post op," he said.

Suddenly a bullet was shot and hit Hawkeye. He fell to the ground. People came out running and stood around Hawkeye. BJ went and knelt down by Hawkeye.

"He was shot in the neck," BJ said.

Margaret came running out of post op. She approached the crowd that had huddled around Hawkeye. She got there and stood in the back. She noticed that Father Mulcahy was standing infront of her.

"Father?" she asked.

"Yes?" he asked turning around.

"What happened?" she asked.

He knew how close she was to Hawkeye and didn't want to be the one to tell her about Hawkeye.

"Well Margaret," he started.

"What is it Father?" she asked.

"It was Hawkeye. He's been shot," he said.

Margaret's eyes started to fill with tears. She quickly shoved her way to the front. When she got there he was being carried into pre op. Margaret waited until the crowd had cleared and then went over to the VIP tent and stormed in.

"Donald!" she angrily called out.

The tent was empty. Margaret stood there in the dark and sighed after she had realized she was alone. She turned and started to leave but was stopped by Donald.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked.

"I came here to ask you the same question," she said.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"What do I mean!? Donald! You just shot him!" she said.

"Now why would you say a thing like that?" he asked.

"Oh come on Donald. You know that I wasn't born yesterday. I haven't heard of a sniper that only shoots once. You are the only one that wanted him dead Donald," she said.

"Alright. You've figured me out. Now what are you going to do about it?" he asked.

Margaret thought for a moment. She knew that it wasn't a good idea to lose her temper with him.

"Are you going to tell on me?" he asked mockingly.

"You digust me," she said finally looking up into his eyes.

It had been so long since she had actually looked him straight in the eyes and not feel anything. The only other time she had done that was when he was cheating with her and she knew. He didn't know that she knew until the end of their stay in Tokyo but that whole time she knew. She knew that everything was just an act.

"So what? I still got him," Donald said smirking.

That was the final straw for Margaret.

"I have had it Donald! You may not care what you just did but I do! I don't even know why you're here and why you want me. You sure didn't seem to before you were transfered to California. Why now!? Why now come and try to get me!?" she angrily asked trying her hardest to keep her voice steady.

The two just stood there silent. Margaret sighed and then took her hand and shoved Donald out of the way of the door. Margaret rushed over to OR. She quietly stepped in and looked through the window. A tear went down her cheek as she watched them operate. Margaret walked away from the door and sat down on the bench.

"You bastard," she muttered softly referring to Donald and then rested her head in her hands.


	26. Taken

26 Taken

BJ walked out of OR and saw Margaret asleep on the bench. He just sighed and went to leave.

"BJ?" she asked waking up.

"Yeah?" BJ asked turning around.

"How is he?" she asked.

"He was shot in the neck. He's going to be weak from the loss of blood during the surgery but he will be okay," BJ said.

Margaret gave a small smile.

"Thankyou," she said.

"Anytime," BJ said.

BJ walked out the door. Margaret sat up and stared at the door. She wanted to go in and see Hawkeye but she didn't know if she could. In the back her mind she knew that he got shot because of her. Margaret waited an hour an then went into post op to go see him. Hesitently she walked in the door and eyed the room for him. Once she spotted him she slowly walked over to him. Margaret stood at the end of the bed and watched him as he slept. Margaret went and sat down by him. She was tired amd fell asleep. It was about two hours later that Hawkeye woke up. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Margaret sitting besides him. Her head had been resting against the back of the chair. Hawkeye smiled. He tried to speak but found it very difficult. He gave up on trying to speak and just decided to wait until Margaret woke up.

Margaret woke up and rubbed the back of her head. Hawkeye smiled at her and then grabbed her hand.

"Hawkeye?" she asked suddenly remembering what had happened.

"How are feeling?" she asked.

Hawkeye just nodded in response.

"I'm sorry," she said.

Hawkeye just gave her a look of confusion.

"I'm sorry that Donald shot you," she said.

Hawkeye just shook his head to let her know that it wasn't her fault. Margaret just sighed.

"Well, I better go and get some sleep," Margaret said.

Hawkeye scootched over and patted the area next to him.

"Are you crazy? This is a hospital. I'm not supposed to be sleeping with some one who is healing," she said.

Hawkeye just looked up at her.

"I know you'd like me to join you, but I couldn't," she said.

Hawkeye just kept looking at her like a child would look at a parent when they told them that they couldn't have a cookie until after dinner and would keep begging. Margaret did want to stay with him through the night. Margaret really didn't want to leave post op alone and especially while it was dark out. Margaret finally gave in.

"Alright," she said.

Margaret laid down next to Hawkeye. Hawkeye was glad that she had decided to stay. He knew Donald and didn't like the idea of her being alone with him still in the camp. Hawkeye watched her as she slept. He himself wasn't tired, he had just woken up. He just put his arm around her and pulled the blanket up to keep her warm.

Over in Colonel Potter's office he was sitting with BJ and Klinger.

"Maybe it was a sniper sir," Klinger said.

"Dammit, that was no sniper. They wouldn't just shoot one person and leave," Potter said.

"Maybe it was Donald," BJ said.

Colonel Potter sighed.

"I knew I couldn't trust him," Potter said.

"The other night Hawkeye brought Margaret back over to the swamp and she was pretty shook up about something, but Hawkeye told me not to ask," BJ said.

"That's it," Potter said getting up.

He walked from behind his desk over to the door.

"I'm gonna go take care of this," he said and then left the room.

BJ and Klinger exchanged looks. Colonel Potter walked out across the compound and over to the VIP tent and walked in without knocking. Donald was in bed. He poked his head up.

"We need to talk," Potter sternly.

"What is it sir?" he asked.

"What the hell do you think that you're doing!?" Potter asked getting angry.

"What I do is my business," Donald said.

"Like hell it is. You just shot my chief surgeon!" Potter said.

"How would you even know?" Donald asked.

"I wasn't born yesterday. You are the only one here that I know of who has a personal problem with Pierce and wants Houlihan," Potter said.

"So what?" Donald asked.

"So I wants you out of this camp in the next twenty four hours or I'll have you court marshelled," Potter warned.

With that Colonel Potter stormed out of the tent slamming the door on his way out leaving Donald who was just watching as he left

It was dark out and everyone was asleep. Margaret woke up in the cot next to Hawkeye.

"Oh come on," she said to herself.

Margaret got up and headed out the door and towards the latrine. Donald saw her head out so he went outside and waited for her. Margaret walked out of the latrine and started back towards post op. Half way there she was met by Donald.

"Not now," she said.

"Yes now," he said.

Margaret kept walking but stopped when she heard the gun trigger. Margaret slowly turned around.

"That's better. Now I have a day to leave and get out of here. So since I can't stay here with you, you're going to come with me," Donald said.

"No," she said.

Donald hit her across the head with the gun in his hand. Margaret fell back onto the ground with her nose bleeding. She propped herself up with her elbows. Margaret was not going to try to run. She knew he was going to shoot.

"You didn't think I'd do that did you?" he asked.

Margaret just stayed there slowly propping herself up on her hands. She felt tears starting to form in her eyes but didn't want to cry infront of Donald. Donald went over and pulled Margaret up and started leading her away from the camp.


	27. Telling Hawkeye

27

Everyone was gathered in Colonel Potter's office.

"I know why she's gone but I don't know where," BJ said.

"I think this may all be my fault," Potter said.

"Oh come on. How is this your fault?" Klinger asked.

"I told Donald that he had to leave the camp and appearently I forgot to tell him to leave Margaret behind," Potter aid.

"Colonel sir, I think that there is something else that we have to think about to," Radar said.

"Not now Radar," Potter said.

"But sir, what about Captain Pierce?" Radar asked.

"Oh God," BJ said.

"Which one of you two wants to tell him?" Klinger asked.

"Why does it have to one of us? Why not you?" BJ asked.

"Does it really matter who tells him? Either way it's still going to be the same story," Potter said.

The room fell silent as everyone in the room exchanged looks.

Margaret was with Donald. They had stopped in the woods where Donald had tied Margaret to a tree. Margaret sat there silently as she held back tears. She bit her lip. Margaret was scared, she knew what Donald was capable of and she didn't want him to go nearly as far as he's able to.

"Donald?" she asked trying to keep her voice steady.

"What?' he asked.

"Why? she asked.

"Why did you bring me here? What do you want from me?" she asked.

"I wants you to remarry me. And if you don't, I'll keep torturing you like this," he said.

Margaret just sat there silently.

Back at the camp BJ had decided to tell Hawkeye about Margaret. He walked in and stood before his bed. Hawkeye took out a pad of paper and wrote on it and then handed it to BJ. BJ took it and read it out loud.

"Where's Margaret?" he asked.

BJ looked up and sighed.

"That's what I came to talk to you about," he said and then sat down next to Hawkeye.

"Margaret's missing," BJ said.

Hawkeye just stared at him.

"We're pretty sure that Donald took her," BJ said.

Hawkeye pounded his fist against the bed.

"I'm sorry I had to tell you that," BJ said.

Hawkeye just leaned his head back.

"Would you like me to leave you alone?" BJ asked.

Hawkeye nodded and then BJ walked away leaving Hawkeye there staring at the ceiling.


	28. Getting Margaret Back

28 Getting Margaret Back

The next day Hawkeye was able to talk again and was being sent back to the swamp. There he waited until night fell and everyone was asleep. Hawkeye sat up and felt around for his duffle bag. He didn't want to turn on the light in fear of waking anybody.

"Hawkeye?" BJ asked waking up.

Hawkeye froze.

"I see you Hawk," BJ said.

"And I hear you both, now go to sleep," Charles said.

BJ got up and went over to Hawkeye and pulled him outside.

"May I ask what you are doing?" BJ asked.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Hawkeye asked.

"You were planning to go out and look for Margaret yourself," BJ said.

"Right. You want to come to?" Hawkeye asked.

"Come on Hawk, let the MP's do their job and they will find her and you'll be here when she gets back," BJ said.

"They were supposed to do their job last time. But last time some things happened that I wouldn't care to repeat," Hawkeye said.

Hawkeye started to walk away but BJ grabbed his should. Hawkeye turned around.

"Don't you realize what you're doing? You're gonna get yourself killed," BJ said.

"Get myself killed!? Margaret is out God knows where with a man who is capable of doing anything to her!I think the last thing on my mind is whether or not I get myself killed," Hawkeye said.

"Think about Hawk, Donald wants her back. He's not gonna kill her," BJ said.

"You don't know that," Hawkeye said.

"Don't do something foolish," BJ said.

"Beej if it were Peg wouldn't you do the same thing?" Hawkeye asked.

BJ stepped back and thought for a minute. Hawkeye went back into the tent and grabbed some of his things together and put them in his duffle bag. Once he was dne packing Hawkeye stepped outside and saw BJ standing there leaning against a jeep.

"BJ?" Hawkeye asked.

"You're right I would do the same thing," BJ said climbing in.

Hawkeye threw his bag in the back seat and got in next to BJ. The two drove away and got down to a road that looked as if no one had traveled on it for a while. BJ stopped the jeep.

"Where do you think they are?" BJ asked.

"I can tell you they're not here," Hawkeye said.

"Where do you want to start?" BJ asked.

"See that hut over there?" Hawkeye asked.

"Yeah," BJ said.

"Lets go check that out," Hawkeye said.

BJ drove down the road over to the hut. Meanwhile Margaret was sitting playing with the rope.

"Stop playin with that will ya?" Donald snapped.

"I wouldn't be playin with it if you wouldn't have tied it to me," Margaret said.

Donald hit her in the mouth.

"Now come on. If you agree to remarry me, I'll let's you go," Donald said.

"Never," she said.

"Alright," he said.

Margaret looked over an saw that in his back pocket there was a pocket knife. Margaret wiped off her mouth and made sure that she got rid of all the blood.

"Donald?" she called.

"What is it?" Donald asked.

"Can you come here? I want a sample kiss," she said.

"I can do that," Donald said.

Margaret stood up as he walked over to her. When he came over she wrapped her arms around him and they started kissing. While kissing Margaret kept lowering her hands feeling for the knife. Donald noticed this and pulled himself away.

"What?" Margaret asked.

"Looking for this?" Donald asked pulling out the knife.

Donald walked over to her holding out the knife.

"You know, instead of cutting the rope," Donald said.

Donald took the knife and slid the knife just hard enough the slit the top of her wrist. Margaret winced trying not to show that what he was doing hurt.

"You can just saw your wrist off," Donald said cutting the other wrist.

Margaret grabbed the blade of it to stop him and turned it back around facing him. Donald pulled the blade back causing Margaret to yelp as it sliced her hand. The moment he pulled the knife away she pushed his arm trying to get him to stab himself.

"Yeah right toots," he said holding his hand away from himself.

Donald started to walk away as a gun was being fired off several times. Donald fell to the ground while Margaret tried to hide behind the tree. Margaret felt pain in her side and saw that she was covered in blood when she looked down.

"Not now," she said to herself.

Margaret looked back and saw Donald on the ground. Margaret got down on her knees and reached as she tried to grab the knife. Once she finally got it she cut the rope and took off running for the main road.

"I better try and save my energy," she said catching her breathe.

Margaret started walking again. She started to notice the ground tilting and held on to a tree for support and slid down to the ground.

Over in the ht BJ and Hawkeye were both crouched down under the window.

"You okay?" BJ asked.

"I don't know. I think I just went numb," Hawkeye said.

"Alright, let's get out of here. Margaret is obviously not here," BJ said standing up.

"Okay," Hawkeye said.

Hawkeye and BJ left and went and got in the jeep.

"Let's keep going until we find another building," Hawkeye said.

BJ started driving down the road. They had kept driving for an hour.

"Hawk, we'd better get back to the camp," BJ said as he saw the sun starting to rise.

"Are you sure?" Hawkeye asked.

"If we don't get back they'll start watching us closely and we won't be able to do this for a long while," BJ said.

BJ started to turn the jeep around.

"Wait," Hawkeye said putting his hand on BJ's shoulder and looking forward.

"What is it?" BJ asked.

"Keep going. Just for a little bit further," Hawkeye said.

"Alright," BJ said.

And with that BJ drove further down the road. They stopped as soon as they saw some one sitting on the side of the road. Hawkeye got out and went over to her and knelt down.

"Hawkeye?" she asked weakly.

"Oh God," Hawkeye said examining her.

"Come on," he said pulling her up.

Hawkeye held her up as he walked her over to the jeep. They both got in the back seat and Margaret leaned against Hawkeye.

"I'm dizzy," she said as they started driving.

"I know you lost a lot of blood," he said.

"Is she gonna be okay?" BJ asked.

"I don't know," Hawkeye said with worry.


	29. Margaret Returns

29 Margaret Returns

Colonel Potter and Radar were standing out in the compound.

"Where in blazis are those two?" Potter asked getting impatient.

"I don't know sir," Radar said.

"Do you know what they were doing?" Potter asked.

"Probally looking for Major Houlihan sir," Radar said.

"Great, now I'm missing a nurse and two surgeons," Potter said.

"Here they come sir," Radar said.

They both watched as the jeep pulled up.

"Oh God," Potter said at the sight of Margaret.

He walked to the jeep and helped her out. Potter could feel the wet blood as he grabbed her hand. There was also some blood on her lips and the whole side of her shirt was drenched in it.

"We found Margaret," BJ said.

"I see that," Potter said.

Both Colonel Potter and Hawkeye helped Margaret into pre op. Once she got onto one of the cots Potter pulled Hawkeye a side.

"Maybe you should let me and BJ handle this one," Potter said.

"That's my fiance in there. I think I should be the one to operate on her," Hawkeye said.

"You've got to much of an emotional connection. You'll be to nervous," Potter said.

Hawkeye just sighed.

"Alright," he said.

"We'll let's you know how she's doing," Potter said.

Hawkeye went out and sat outside of OR. He hated not being able to do anything. He sighed as he leaned his head back against the wall. After the operation BJ came out and stood before Hawkeye.

"Yes?" Hawkeye asked without looking at him.

"She'll be fine. She was shot in the side and lost a lot of blood so she'll be tired for a while though," BJ said.

"Thanks Beej," Hawkeye said.

"Want me to get you when she wakes up?" BJ asked.

"I have to go on duty in about two hours so I have a feeling that I'll already be there," Hawkeye said.

"Alright," BJ said and then smiled as he turned and walked back in.

Hawkeye was sitting at the desk. Margaret slowly opened her eyes and started to sit up. She felt as though she was still in a dream state. Margaret lifted her hand to see tha stitches. As she was examining her hand Hawkeye looked and saw her and then went over to her.

"Hey there," he said as he sat down next to her.

"What happened to Donald?" she asked.

Hawkeye thought for a moment.

"I don't know. Why?" he asked.

"Just wondering," Margaret said.

"You had me scared," Haweye said.

"Will there be any scars?" Margaret asked.

Hawkeye sighed as handed Margaret the mirror.

"Oh no," she said feeling the stitches on her upper lip.

"Don't worry, it shouldn't be too bad," Hawkeye said taking the mirror.

They both stayed quiet for a moment.

"I missed you," Hawkeye said.

"I missed you to," Margaret said starting to cry.

"I was scared. I didn't think that I was ever ging to get away from him," Margaret said as a tear went down her cheek.

Hawkeye embraced her.

"Shh, it's okay, he's gone now," Hawkeye said.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"There's nothing to be sorry about," he said.

Margaret pulled herself away. She sat there for a moment as she examined him.

"You okay now?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said.

"Well I've got to go finish some paper work," he said.

Hawkeye started to get up and go back to the desk but Margaret grabbed his hand. Hawkeye looked at Margaret. She was about to say something.

"Nevermind," she said.

"You sure?" he asked.

"I'm sure," she said.


	30. It Had To Be You

30 It Had To Be You

Hawkeye sat with Margaret in the mess tent. She had gotten out of post op a couple of weeks ago. Everything seemed to be getting back to normal. Margaret had gotten her cast off and her cuts have healed. Margaret had still been staying with Hawkeye but had started having less and less nightmares. The only thing that wasn't normal was that Radar had left and Klinger was still trying to get used to being the company clerk.

"You know what today is, don't you?" Hawkeye asked.

"The day Klimger might do something right," Margaret guessed.

"You won't see that one for a while," Hawkeye said.

"What?" she asked.

"Two months ago I proposed to you and you said that in two months you'd decide whether or not you wanted to get married," Hawkeye said.

"Well." Margaret said.

"The last few months have been very eventful and there has been a lot on my mind," she said.

"I can see that," Hawkeye said.

Margaret grabbed Hawkeye's hand as she looked him in the eyes.

"I know you love me, because if you didn't you wouldn't have put up with me. But I still can't come out and say yes or no. Give me until dinner time," Margaret said.

"I can wait," Hawkeye said.

Margaret went back and sat in her tent. It was wierd to her because it had been a while since she had just went to be in her tent. When she started staying in the Swamp she only went to her tent to get her clothes. Margaret went in and sat down on her cot and stared at herself in the mirror.

_(Hawkeye came over to Margaret and kissed her. Hawkeye let her go._

_"That was my Christmas gift for you," he said._

_Hawkeye, Margaret and Klinger were sitting in the jeep. They were coming back from Batalian Aid._

_"Now Margaret, if you ever repeat this to anyone I'll deny it. But you are my favorite officer in the whole army," he said and then leaned over and kissed her on the cheek._

_A bomb went off and Hawkeye ran over to Margaret as soon as he heard her scream._

_"Stop it!" she was screaming out._

_Hawkeye went over and put his arms around her as she cried._

_"Hold me," she said._

_"I am," he said._

_"I can't feel it. Hold me," she said._

_Another bomb went off and they both started screaming and then slowly started kissing.)_

Margaret sighed as she looked down at her ring.

"I love you to," she said.

That night Hawkeye sat in the mess tent as he waited for Margaret. Margaret walked in and sat down by him. Hawkeye looked over at her and waited for a response. Noticing that he was watching she looked up and smiled as she nodded.

"When do you want to get married?" he asked.

"How about next weekend?" she asked.

Hawkeye smiled.

Margaret was sitting in her tent with Gwen and Kelleye. They were helping her get ready.

"I don't think my hair is going to stay like this," Margaret said looking in the mirror.

Margaret's hair was neatly pinned up with a few loose strands that curled to frame her face.

"Sit still so I can get the veil on you," Gwen said.

"Really Major, you look great," Kelleye said.

Gwen went over and put the veil on Margaret.

"There," she said and then stepped back.

Margaret smiled as she examined herself in the mirror. All three of them turned towards the door as soon as they heard a knock.

"Who is it?" Margaret asked.

"Colonel Potter," he announced.

Kelleye went and opened the door to let him in. Potter stood there a minute and smiled as he saw Margaret.

"You ready? Hawkeye and BJ are already in the mess tent ready to start," he said.

Margaret stood up and took a deep breath and then smiled at him.

"Yes, I'm ready," she said.

Margaret went over and Colonel Potter took her by the arm. He walked her over to the mess tent. Iside Hawkeye leaned over to BJ who was his best man.

"What do you think's keeping her so long?" Hawkeye asked.

"Hawk, Potter just went to go get her. Give him a minute," BJ said.

"Alright," Hawkeye said.

Colonel Potter poked his head in. As soon as Father Mulcahy saw him he started playing the piano. Hawkeye smiled as he watched Colonel Potter walk Margaret down th aisle. Once they got up front Father Mulcahy stopped playing and went up to join them.

"Who gives this girl away?" Father asked.

"I do," Potter said.

With that Potter let go of Margaret's arm and went to take a seat. Margaret went and stood by Hawkeye as he lifted her veil. They both turned and faced Father Mulcahy. They went through the first part of the wedding and then it was time to read the vows. Margaret smiled at Hawkeye as he took out his paper.

"Margaret Houlihan. The first time I met you there were two thoughts in my head. One, that has to be the best looking nurse I've seen, and two, that has to be the most uptight, rule bent, stiff nurse that I have ever seen. I kept wondering how some one that good looking could be so angry with everyone. And then I find out that she is the head nurse and outranks me which made it harder for me to date the nurses. All I could think was that out of all people it had to be you. Well, it's been a while since then. Since then Margaret has changed. A couple of months ago we were both sent to anoth unit. We went through some rough times together. I think of all the dates that I have had and the lovers and the one night stands and then I think about how I wanted more then that with you. I think about everytime I left camp without you. It had to be you because Margaret Houlihan I love you and I promise that I'd never put you through that," Hawkeye said.

Margaret smiled at him.

"May we now have the rings?" Father Mulcahy asked.

BJ handed the rings to Hawkeye and Margaret.

"Now place the ring on Margaret's finger," Father said.

Margaret held her hand out as Hawkeye slid the ring on her finger.

"Now I wants you to repeat after me. With this ring I be wed," Father said.

"With this ring I be wed," Hawkeye said.

"Now Margaret, I wants you to do the same thing," Father said.

Margaret took the ring and put it on Hawkeye's finger.

"With this ring I be wed," she said.

"Now do you Benjamin Franklin Pierce, take Margaret Elizabeth Houlihan to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold? For richer and for poorer, through sickness and through health until death do you part? Say I do," Father said.

"I do," Hawkeye said.

"And do you Margaret Elizabeth Houlihan take Benjamin Franklin Pierce to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold? For richer and for poorer, through sickness and through health, until death do you do you part? Say I do," Father said.

"I do," Margaret said.

"I now pronounce you man and wife. You may now kiss the bride," Father Mulcahy said.

Margaret and Hawkeye kissed while every one applauded


End file.
